Finance 365

02/09/2026

PROPERTY MARKET SHIFTS IN FAVOUR OF BUYERS.

Property buyers are gaining more negotiating power as the national housing downturn becomes increasingly widespread.

Australia’s median property value fell 0.9% in August from July, according to Cotality, with 93% of capital city suburbs recording a decline over winter.

At the same time, buyer demand has weakened. Estimated home sales during the past quarter were 15.5% lower than a year earlier and 11.5% below the five-year average.

That means properties are taking longer to sell and available stock is accumulating. Capital city listings at the end of August were 24% higher than a year earlier and 8% above the five-year average.

Cotality said longer selling times, larger vendor discounts and persistently low auction clearance rates were all pointing towards a buyer’s market.

31/08/2026

FIRST HOME BUYER LENDING HOLDS STEADY YEAR -ON-YEAR

First home buyer activity has cooled in recent months, but the longer-term picture is more resilient.

The number of new owner-occupier first home buyer loans fell 2.9% in the June quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), following a 3.6% decline in the March quarter.

Despite those two consecutive quarterly falls, first home buyer lending was unchanged compared with the June quarter of 2025.

That compares favourably with the broader owner-occupier market, where the number of new loans was 1.6% lower than a year earlier – the first annual decline since the September quarter of 2023.

So while fewer first home buyers are entering the market than at the start of the year, their overall presence has held up relatively well during a period of softer lending activity.

30/08/2026

DON'T ASSUME YOU CAN'T REFINANCE

If you've thought about refinancing but assumed you wouldn't qualify, it may be worth getting a second opinion.

Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report found only 45% of mortgage holders believe they could switch to a better loan today.

Income and expenses were the most common obstacle, cited by 22% of borrowers, followed by being on a fixed rate (13%) and not having enough equity (11%).

But Finder home loans expert Richard Whitten said one of the most expensive assumptions borrowers can make is believing they can't refinance without investigating their options.

That's because every lender assesses borrowers differently.

So even if refinancing hasn't looked possible in the past, it may be worth asking a mortgage broker to check whether another lender would view your situation differently.

Multi award winning Finance Brokerage focusing on all aspects of Home and Personal Finance.

25/08/2026

HOUSING SUPPLY IMPROVING - BUT TARGET REMAINS CHALLENGING

Australia hasn’t been building enough homes to keep pace with demand, contributing to housing shortages and putting pressure on property prices and rents.

To help address that imbalance, federal, state and territory governments agreed to a national target to help facilitate the construction of 1.2 million new homes over the five years from July 2024 to June 2029. This is known as the National Housing Accord.

So how are we tracking?

The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council’s latest report shows some encouraging signs. Quarterly building approvals have increased 26% since the National Housing Accord period began, while commencements are up 15%.

There were also a record 244,000 homes under construction in the March quarter.

However, getting those homes completed remains challenging. House construction costs increased 2% in the June quarter and are now 51% higher than before the pandemic.

The Council expects recent interest rate rises and softer market sentiment may also cause some construction to be deferred.

As a result, it estimates Australia will reach 1.2 million new homes in the December quarter of 2030 – about 18 months after the original target date.

So while the pipeline is improving, Australia will need to build homes considerably faster if supply is to catch up with demand.

20/08/2026

PROPERTY MARKETS MOVING AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS

How long does it take to sell a property in Australia? The answer depends heavily on where it is located.

Cotality reports that the national median was 35 days in the three months to July, up from 29 days a year earlier.

But there was a significant difference between individual capitals.

Perth remained by far the fastest-moving market, with properties selling in a median of just 17 days. Brisbane followed at 28 days, while Hobart and Adelaide were at 30 and 31 days respectively.

Meanwhile, properties took 39 days to sell in Melbourne, 41 days in Sydney and 49 days in Canberra.

Regional markets were slower overall, with a median of 39 days, although regional Western Australia stood out at just 19 days.

So while selling conditions have generally softened over the past year, buyers in some markets still need to move considerably faster than those in others.

19/08/2026

RENTAL PROPERTIES REMAIN IN SHORT SUPPLY

Australia remains firmly a landlord’s market, judging by the latest rental vacancy data from SQM Research.

The national vacancy rate held at 1.3% in July, with rental properties particularly hard to find in several capital cities.

Darwin had the tightest market, with a vacancy rate of just 0.3%, followed by Perth, Adelaide and Hobart at 0.6% and Brisbane at 0.9%.

Conditions were less constrained in Sydney and Melbourne, where vacancy rates were 1.7%, and Canberra, at 1.8%.

There has been some improvement nationally, with 40,771 properties vacant compared with 37,863 a year earlier.

However, rental supply remains tight enough to support strong rental growth. National advertised rents have increased 7.2% over the past year, including rises of 14.1% in Darwin, 12.2% in Hobart and 8.3% in Brisbane.

SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said that while there were signs of moderation in rental conditions in some capitals, overall, the market remains undersupplied.

“Until we see a more sustained increase in available rental stock, we expect affordability pressures to remain elevated,” he said.

14/08/2026

VERY FEW 5% DEPOSIT BUYERS IN NEGATIVE EQUITY

One potential downside of buying with a 5% deposit is that it doesn’t take much of a price fall to push you into negative equity.

But despite the current property downturn, that’s happened to very few first home buyers using the federal government’s 5% Deposit Scheme, according to PropTrack.

About 48,000 properties have been purchased through the scheme since it was expanded last October, according to Housing Australia data.

PropTrack estimates just 87 of those households – less than 0.2% – are currently in negative equity. Meanwhile, 52% now have more than 5% equity in their property, meaning their position has actually improved since buying.

A key reason is that the downturn has been uneven. More affordable properties, which tend to be targeted by first home buyers using the scheme, have generally performed better than the top end of the market.

30/07/2026

INFLATION UNDERSHOOTS RBA FORECAST

In good news, Australia's inflation figures have come in below the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) own forecast, easing pressure ahead of next month's rate decision.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported annual headline inflation of 3.8% in the year to June, down from 4.0% in May.

Underlying inflation, measured by the trimmed mean, held steady at 3.6%. Unlike the headline figure, which can be swayed by one-off price movements, the trimmed mean strips those out to show the broader trend, and it's the measure the RBA relies on most.

The RBA had forecast the trimmed mean to reach 3.8% by the June quarter, back in May, so the actual figure landed well short of that.

All four major lenders now expect the RBA to hold the cash rate steady at its 10-11 August meeting.

28/07/2026

THE GROWING GAP BETWEEN REGIONAL AND CAPITAL CITY PRICES

The gap between regional Australia and the capitals is widening, and it's showing up clearly in the numbers.

PropTrack data for June 2026 shows prices fell in every capital city except Darwin that month, while regional markets held steady at record highs in most areas.

REA Group senior economist Anne Flaherty said the divergence has been building for months. "Comparing year-on-year growth, regions are well ahead of where capital cities are," she said.

Some of the sharpest annual gains to June 2026 were in regional Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, where affordable entry prices have drawn buyers priced out of the capitals.

It's a trend that makes sense given recent policy shifts too. With negative gearing now largely restricted to new builds, investor demand has cooled in many established capital city markets, while lifestyle and affordability continue to pull buyers toward the regions.

14/07/2026

BUYERS GAIN MORE ROOM TO NEGOTIATE

Vendors are giving away a little more ground on price.

New data from Cotality shows the median vendor discount across the combined capitals rose to 3.3% in the three months to May 2026, up from 3.1% earlier in the year.

Regional markets have held steadier, with the median discount also sitting at 3.3%, little changed from where it started 2026.

Vendor discounting is one of the clearest signals of negotiating power. A wider discount means sellers are accepting a bigger gap between their original asking price and the final sale price, usually a sign that listings are building and buyers have more choice.

Nationally, the gap now sits at 3.3%, only marginally tighter than the 3.4% recorded a year earlier.

It suggests sellers are still in a reasonable position overall, but the extra choice on offer this year is starting to shift a little more power back towards buyers.