{"id":950121,"date":"2026-11-02T18:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950121\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T18:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:12:31","slug":"tough-across-the-country-darwin-and-hobart-enjoy-reprieve-from-tough-housing-market-as-price-downturns-attributed-to-tax-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/950121\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tough across the country’: Darwin and Hobart enjoy ‘reprieve’ from ‘tough’ housing market as price downturns attributed to tax changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A property analyst has pointed to the Albanese government\u2019s controversial capital gains tax and negative gearing changes for the \u201cvery tough market\u201d, but not all markets are \u201cas bad\u201d as others.<\/p>\n

Speaking to News24 host Chris Kenny, Property Investment Professionals Australia’s Cate Bakos revealed Darwin and Hobart are the only two capital cities that have seen property prices increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been tough across the country, but we’ve had two capital cities this month that have had a little bit of a reprieve, that is Darwin and Hobart. But outside of that, we’ve had some really significant movement,\u201d Ms Bakos said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly in Sydney and Perth and Adelaide and Brisbane. They’ve really felt the brunt of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had, in one month, price downturns in Sydney of 1.6 per cent and in Brisbane 2 per cent, Adelaide 1.2 per cent and in Perth 1.7 per cent. So it has been tough and it’s been very well felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes as the Reserve Bank is expected to raise interest rates again on Tuesday,\u00a0the fifth hike this year.<\/p>\n

New research from Westpac found 68 per cent of Australians believe falling house prices would be good for the country<\/a>, while 67 per cent remain concerned property values could drop even further.<\/p>\n

However, according to the findings, 82 per cent of Australians said home ownership was still completely out of reach for the average person.<\/p>\n

Ms Bakos said \u201cthings have levelled out a bit\u201d in Melbourne, with other cities showing signs of \u201cdoing really well\u201d but questioned how much further prices could drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow far could it go? Well, we’ve got talks of a rate increase tomorrow. That’s certainly scared a few buyers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it’s spring season, so we’ve got vendors who are particularly keen to make decisions now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it’s a very tough market for vendors, but in some capital cities it’s not quite as bad as the media would have us believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Bakos said there had been \u201ca lot\u201d of investor activity in the lower and median quartiles, suggesting the Albanese government\u2019s tax changes have played a \u201cmajor part\u201d in who is currently buying homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve seen some segments come off harder than others, and that has definitely been attributed to the tax changes,\u201d Ms Bakos said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of investor activity in the lower quartile and the median quartile, and they’re the areas that have really come off of late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coalition<\/p>\n

Last Friday, Westpac chief executive of consumer banking Carolyn McCann said the findings reflected the competing pressures facing Australia’s housing market.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability remains a significant challenge for many Australians, and these findings suggest many view lower prices as part of the solution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is another side to that equation. For many Australians, their home can be their biggest financial asset, so concern about falling values is understandable.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have also been concerns that further rate rises could force more homeowners to sell<\/a>, adding supply to an already weakening market.<\/p>\n

Ms McCann said buying a property was a long-term commitment, despite the current uncertainty.<\/p>\n

While current downturns may appeal to first home buyers, Westpac’s economists expect national property prices to rise by three per cent in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A property analyst has pointed to the Albanese government\u2019s controversial capital gains tax and negative gearing changes for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[517111,517106,377379,433168,89838,385358,376755,337378,376963,517112,380489,439679,376730,411514,394077,390293,517113,517118,488639,450883,517141,517127,49394,517138,476440,64,63,9461,517119,517103,99,517128,32092,27305,22710,517125,56957,517115,517101,517129,19385,15855,164,350406,517139,91108,517130,478139,46327,1194,7688,11152,5626,125963,371356,25409,389089,647,517126,517120,408629,517140,320045,34175,399346,428724,517136,389529,384275,6622,517109,517114,517107,19604,97739,517121,192237,2953,376752,517117,517102,517142,517105,2176,670,517132,22132,4961,321932,517104,517108,378344,479526,498902,381004,385468,517122,313300,517124,517133,394133,517116,517123,364771,517110,517131,402668,393752,377388,517135,381213,424108,381799,364611,7570,26647,28333,517134,498045,517137,8420,285207],"class_list":["post-950121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-s-controversial-capital-gains-tax","tag-s-controversial-tax-changes","tag-s-tax-changes","tag-1-6","tag-89838","tag-385358","tag-376755","tag-337378","tag-a-bit","tag-a-few-buyers","tag-a-little-bit","tag-a-long-term-commitment","tag-a-lot","tag-a-major-part","tag-a-pathway","tag-a-property","tag-a-property-analyst","tag-a-rate-increase","tag-a-reprieve","tag-a-significant-challenge","tag-a-very-tough-market","tag-adelaide-1-2","tag-affordability","tag-an-already-weakening-market","tag-another-side","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australians","tag-bakos","tag-brisbane-2","tag-business","tag-cate-bakos","tag-cent","tag-coalition","tag-concern","tag-concerned-property-values","tag-concerns","tag-consumer-banking-carolyn-mccann","tag-current-downturns","tag-darwin-and-hobart","tag-decisions","tag-economists","tag-economy","tag-falling-house-prices","tag-falling-values","tag-first-home-buyers","tag-further-prices","tag-further-rate-rises","tag-home-ownership","tag-homes","tag-housing","tag-housing-market","tag-interest-rates","tag-investor-activity","tag-last-friday","tag-lower-prices","tag-many-australians","tag-melbourne","tag-more-homeowners","tag-ms-bakos","tag-ms-mccann","tag-national-property-prices","tag-negative-gearing-changes","tag-new-research","tag-news24","tag-news24-host-chris-kenny","tag-not-all-markets","tag-one-month","tag-other-cities","tag-part","tag-perth-1-7","tag-price-downturns","tag-property-investment-professionals-australia","tag-property-prices","tag-reach","tag-record-migrant-intake-and-housing-pressures","tag-reprieve","tag-signs","tag-snapp-breaking-or-general-news","tag-some-capital-cities","tag-some-really-significant-movement","tag-some-segments","tag-spring-season","tag-supply","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-and-perth-and-adelaide-and-brisbane","tag-talks","tag-tax","tag-tax-changes","tag-that-equation","tag-the-very-tough-market","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-areas","tag-the-average-person","tag-the-board","tag-the-brunt","tag-the-competing-pressures","tag-the-country","tag-the-current-uncertainty","tag-the-fifth-hike","tag-the-findings","tag-the-lower-and-median-quartiles","tag-the-lower-quartile","tag-the-media","tag-the-median-quartile","tag-the-only-two-capital-cities","tag-the-reserve-bank","tag-the-solution","tag-the-tax-changes","tag-their-biggest-financial-asset","tag-their-home","tag-these-findings","tag-this-month","tag-this-year","tag-tomorrow","tag-tough","tag-tuesday","tag-two-capital-cities","tag-vendors","tag-very-tough-market","tag-westpac","tag-westpac-chief-executive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}