{"id":653461,"date":"2026-10-22T05:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653461\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T05:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:12:34","slug":"house-values-drop-in-all-capital-cities-for-first-time-in-15-years-domain-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/653461\/","title":{"rendered":"House values drop in all capital cities for first time in 15 years, Domain says"},"content":{"rendered":"

House prices have fallen 4.7 per cent, the steepest quarterly drop on record, according to new data from Domain.<\/p>\n

Prices dropped in every capital city in the September quarter, the first time in 15 years and only the second time on record.<\/p>\n

The real estate platform’s data showed the sharpest decline was in Perth, where prices dropped 7.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

Combined capital city house prices fell to $1,226,566. Domain said markets that started the year in very different positions “are now moving in the same direction”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Houses and units dropped in price for a second consecutive month. (ABC News: Steve Keen)<\/p>\n

Australia’s biggest property markets, Sydney and Melbourne, recorded their largest quarterly house price drop in four years, falling 4.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.<\/p>\n

Unit prices also fell 3.5 per cent, marking the second consecutive quarter both property types declined.<\/p>\n

It marked a clear shift in the housing cycle, according to Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief residential economist.<\/p>\n

\"Nicola<\/p>\n

Nicola Powell says conditions have shifted to be more favourable for buyers. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“What began as weakness concentrated in some cities has broadened considerably,” Dr Powell said.<\/p>\n

“The balance of power has shifted towards buyers.<\/p>\n

“Homes are taking longer to sell, there is greater scope to negotiate, and sellers are having to be more realistic about price expectations.”<\/p>\n

The cumulative impact of rising rates, lower affordability, and cost-of-living pressures has reduced demand, according to Gerard Burg of data firm Cotality.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a demand-led downturn,” Mr Burg said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Gerard Burg says the fall in prices has been driven by lower demand. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)<\/p>\n

Australia’s most valuable homes falling the most\u00a0<\/p>\n

While all major markets across the country have joined the downturn, prices have not been dropping equally within cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Australia’s most valuable homes are dropping the most, while lower value homes were relatively stable in three months to September, according to property data firm Cotality.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, the most valuable quartile of homes dropped more than twice as much as the least valuable quartile.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, lower-value homes have seen a much slower price drop, Cotality said.<\/p>\n

Prices grew in Darwin’s lowest value quartile.<\/p>\n

The sharper downturn in more expensive properties reflects fewer buyers and higher borrowing costs, according to property economist Cameron Kusher.<\/p>\n

“They’ve typically seen larger increases in values over recent years and when you see that market slowdown, there’s overall fewer buyers for those properties,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

Cameron Kusher says fewer buyers and higher interest rates are pushing down the prices of more expensive properties. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)<\/p>\n

However, he said the ultra-top end of the market had remained largely stable.<\/p>\n

Mr Burg agreed, saying lower-priced homes remained affordable to more buyers.<\/p>\n

“The median house really appears kind of out of reach of the median income household across much of the country,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prices were falling before federal budget<\/p>\n

The federal budget was a factor, but not the only factor, in house price falls, according to Mr Kusher.<\/p>\n

House prices peaked last year and had already begun to drop before the changes to investment taxes in May’s federal budget, Mr Kusher and Mr Burg both noted.<\/p>\n

Mr Burg said prices were already falling in many capital cities, and three consecutive interest rate hikes had dampened market confidence.<\/p>\n

New underquoting laws take effect<\/a><\/p>\n

The real estate industry says new laws targeting agents underquoting a house price are well-intentioned but poorly designed.<\/p>\n

Auction activity, a common gauge of market confidence, has roughly halved from last year, with 1,423 auctions across capital cities last week, according to Cotality.<\/p>\n

“Confidence has really evaporated. Affordability is very stretched and borrowing capacity is reduced dramatically,” Mr Kusher said.<\/p>\n

“People just aren’t in a position or able to pay the prices that a lot of these properties are worth at the moment.”<\/p>\n

He said home ownership rates had not moved much since the May budget changes, due to lower buyer confidence and stretched affordability.<\/p>\n

“The first time is pretty scary as it is, and I think a lot of them are looking at it and saying, ‘Well, prices are falling, why would I jump in now when there’s quite a lot for sale, if I wait another six or 12 months properties will probably be cheaper,'” he said.<\/p>\n

“I just don’t think first home buyers have that urgency anymore.”<\/p>\n

He said prices would be unlikely to return to their previous heights, at least not in the short term.<\/p>\n

“I think this downturn is probably going to drag on a bit longer than people expect, and it probably will until it looks like interest rates are going to actually be reduced again,” he said.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"House prices have fallen 4.7 per cent, the steepest quarterly drop on record, according to new data from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,219306,29491,90916,1766,184,49438,85,46,49439],"class_list":["post-653461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-capital-cities","tag-cotality","tag-domain","tag-downturn","tag-economy","tag-first-home-buyers","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-property-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}