Market Feed
The market’s daily pulse — what moved, in plain English.
Thursday 8 October 2026
Renting
Brisbane rents hold at a record $700 a week
Brisbane's median asking rent held at a record $700 a week for houses and $660 for units over the September quarter, on Domain's quarterly Rent Report. That's still $40 a week more than a year ago for houses and $20 more for units, and vacancy remains near a record low at 0.7%, with rental listings 3% lower than a year earlier. Domain's Dr Nicola Powell says tenants have hit an affordability ceiling, but notes the final quarter of the year is usually the hottest for rents.
Source: Brisbane Times · Property Update
Read more: Brisbane property at a crossroads
Selling
Brisbane new listings up 17% for a second quarter
REA Group chief executive Cameron McIntyre told shareholders on 8 October that new listings in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide grew 17% in the September quarter, the second quarter in a row, while Melbourne and Sydney fell 16%. He said further price falls are likely over the coming months as the latest rate rise, tax changes and higher borrowing costs weigh on buyer demand, but expects employment, equity buffers and tight supply to put a floor under the falls.
Source: Mortgage Professional Australia
Read more: Spring market update: Centenary suburbs
Moreton Bay and Logan
Unit rents jump in Moreton Bay and Logan
While Brisbane's medians stalled, unit rents in the Moreton Bay South region (Strathpine through the Hills District to North Lakes) rose 5.5% over the September quarter to $580 a week, and in the Loganlea-Carbrook region by 6.5% to $495, on Domain's figures. Ray White AKG principal Avi Khan says the average Logan unit listing now draws 14 to 16 applications, double a year ago, and puts vacancy at 0.16%. In Redcliffe, median house rents are up 6.6% in a year to $650.
Source: Brisbane Times
Landlords
Some Redcliffe investors are re-leasing instead of selling
Place Redcliffe's head of property management Troy Bateman says he isn't seeing a widespread investor exit, and some owners who might otherwise sell are leasing their property for another 12 months before reassessing. He says rents across his portfolio have risen about $50 a week since the May Budget announcement, and the portfolio's vacancy rate is 3%.
Source: Brisbane Times
Housing supply
Queensland home building starts reach 11,671
Queensland began building 11,671 homes in the June quarter, up from 11,342 in the March quarter and 9,550 a year earlier, and completed 9,549, up from 8,967, in seasonally adjusted terms. Nationally, commencements rose 7.0% to 52,201 and completions 5.8% to 47,168. These ABS figures can be revised in later releases.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Housing supply
Australia 94,980 homes behind its Housing Accord target
Australia is 94,980 new-home starts behind the pace needed for the National Housing Accord's 1.2 million homes target after its first two full years, the Housing Industry Association says. HIA estimates the shortfall cost $2.8 billion in stamp duty and $8.2 billion in GST, and expects this year's rate rises and Budget tax changes to show up in building activity in 2027. Queensland completed 68,694 homes over the two years.
Source: HIA · The Urban Developer
Units
Brisbane apartments led east coast price growth to June
Brisbane apartment values rose 21.6% in the year to the June quarter, ahead of Brisbane houses at 18.5%, the strongest of the 30 east coast markets in the McGrath Residential Price Index. New high-rise apartment values rose 14.0% in Brisbane and 13.9% on the Gold Coast. The figures cover the year to June 2026, and across all 30 markets prices fell 0.6% over the June quarter.
Source: Real Estate Business · Elite Agent
Gold Coast
Interstate movers pay $201,000 more for Gold Coast homes
Interstate arrivals on the Gold Coast are moving into homes worth an average $201,000 more than the ones they left, and only 31% landed in a cheaper property, according to removalist comparison platform Find a Mover. A Brisbane household moving to the Gold Coast now moves into a home worth an average $104,000 more, and one moving to the Sunshine Coast $58,000 more. ABS figures in the analysis show regional Queensland's net gain from people moving within Australia fell from 17,485 in the year to March 2023 to 9,049 in the year to March 2026.
Source: realestate.com.au
Gold Coast
A record 82 cranes over the Gold Coast
The latest RLB Crane Index counts a record 82 cranes on the Gold Coast, 72 of them on residential projects, still more than Brisbane, while Brisbane's residential crane count rose from 43 to 54 and South East Queensland's total from 153 to 178. Ray White's Vanessa Rader says the record reflects projects that had already secured funding, and that rising costs, a cooling market and higher rates are making it harder for the next apartment projects to stack up.
Source: realestate.com.au
Development
Toombul plan lifts the new town centre above flood level
Irvine Property Group has lodged a masterplan and earthworks application for the 9.9-hectare former Toombul Shopping Centre site in Nundah, which closed after the February 2022 flood, for a retail-led town centre with apartments, dining and parkland. Buildings, streets and parking would sit on a platform at or above 6.5 metres AHD, which flood modelling says would stay dry in a 1-in-2,000-year flood, and the parkland would add about 7,000 cubic metres of flood storage. It's a preliminary approval application only, and each stage, starting with the shopping centre, needs its own application.
Source: Brisbane Times · Brisbane Development
Building
Datacentres are competing with homes for builders
The building category that captures datacentres made up 20% of the value of non-residential building starts in the year to June, against a usual share of about 1%, Australia Institute chief economist Greg Jericho writes, using ABS data. More than 17 times as much was spent building datacentres as factories over the year. Residential building volume rose 8.7% in the year to June, the strongest since 2016, but Jericho argues the datacentre boom will compete for builders with efforts to lift housing supply.
Source: Guardian Australia
Commercial
Work starts on a $280m James Street office tower
Goldfields has broken ground on 88 Robertson Street, a $280 million, 16-storey A-grade office building in Fortitude Valley's James Street precinct, with ULTRA Queensland as builder. It will deliver 17,000 square metres of office space, with end-of-trip facilities, serviced office levels and landscaped wintergardens, and construction is scheduled to finish in the second half of 2028.
Source: The Urban Developer
Wednesday 7 October 2026
Selling
South East Queensland sellers urged to price for today's market
Agents across South East Queensland say many sellers are yet to adjust their price expectations as fewer buyers turn up to open homes. One Gold Coast agency principal says the clearance rate there at 28 days is still about 68%, but after 45 days the chance of selling falls to 21%. realestate.com.au's economist expects Brisbane's clearance rate to keep falling over spring unless sellers reprice.
Source: realestate.com.au
Prices
Brisbane's cheaper homes are now falling too
Brisbane's lower-quartile home values fell 2.0% over the three months to August on Cotality data, after rising 0.5% in the previous update, while mid-priced homes fell 2.9% and the top quarter 2.8%. Cotality's Brisbane median house value is now $1,146,078 and the median unit value $834,627. Total listings are 53.3% higher than a year ago, but new listings only 5.4% higher, so much of the extra stock is homes sitting on the market for longer.
Source: Real Estate Business
Read more: Brisbane property at a crossroads
Interest rates
Consumer sentiment drops after the latest rate rise
The Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index fell 4.7% to 80.4 in October, and was just 67.2 among people surveyed after the Reserve Bank's latest rate rise. Just over 80% of those surveyed after the decision expect mortgage rates to rise further over the next year, up from 63% a month earlier. The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan measure also fell, by 3.4 points to 67.1.
Home loans
Suncorp home loan applications in progress face a 27 October deadline
Suncorp Bank stops taking new lending applications from Wednesday 7 October, and applications already lodged need final approval and loan documents issued by Tuesday 27 October. Any loan needing a new account or letter of offer must settle by Saturday 26 December. If you have a Suncorp application under way, check the timing with your broker.
Source: Australian Broker
Buying
Home buyers are a little less gloomy
Westpac's 'time to buy a dwelling' index rose 3.4% to 88.4 in October, led by outright homeowners, retirees, 25–34-year-olds and people earning over $80,000. Queensland's reading of 85 is below New South Wales and Victoria at 93. Consumers are split on prices: just over 31% expect falls over the next year, 18% expect no change and 46% expect a rise.
Source: Westpac
Read more: Waiting for the property bottom?
Renting
Brisbane rental yields edge higher
Brisbane gross rental yields have edged up on Cotality data, from 3.3% to 3.4% for houses and from 4.1% to 4.2% for units, as rents rise while values soften. Annual house rent growth is holding at 6.7%, and unit rent growth strengthened from 5.6% in August to 5.9% in September.
Source: Real Estate Business
Selling
Almost every Brisbane resale still makes a profit
In Cotality's June-quarter Pain & Gain report, 99.8% of Brisbane resales made a nominal gain, with a median profit of $525,000, the best result of any capital city. Nationally, profitable resales had been held for a median 9.1 years. Cotality expects further value falls to put more pressure on resale profits.
Source: Cotality
Housing supply
New builds are overtaking knockdown rebuilds
KPMG analysis finds investment in new homes rose 20% over four years while one-for-one knockdown rebuilds fell 32%, as planning changes let more owners build several homes, such as duplexes, on larger blocks. Queensland's new-build spending rose to $17.9 billion in 2025-26, up from $14.1 billion in 2021-22.
Source: Elite Agent
Moreton Bay
Record price for a Morayfield housing estate site
Developer Fairland has paid $22 million for 6.1 hectares in Morayfield earmarked for a 98-lot subdivision, or $224,490 per proposed lot, which the selling agents say is a record for a residential site of this scale in the area. The land is part of Morayfield South, a 900-hectare growth corridor about 40km north of the Brisbane CBD expected to eventually house about 26,000 people.
Source: realestatesource
Brisbane 2032
Logan ballpark not yet part of Games planning
Queensland Sports Minister Tim Mander, a member of the Brisbane 2032 organising committee, said the proposed Logan baseball and softball stadium was not yet part of organisers' thinking, and that an alternative venue had been identified. A pre-feasibility study for the $156 million Meadowbrook ballpark goes to Logan City Council on Wednesday 7 October.
Source: Brisbane Times
Tuesday 6 October 2026
Home loans
Suncorp Bank stops taking new home loan applications from 7 October
Suncorp Bank will stop accepting new mortgage applications through brokers and its own channels from Wednesday 7 October, as ANZ moves about 1.2 million Suncorp customers onto its platform. If you were planning to apply for a Suncorp home loan, talk to your broker or lender about other options. Suncorp is expected to contact its customers directly about any changes.
Source: Mortgage Professional Australia
Renting
Brisbane house asking rents ease over the month
Brisbane house asking rents were $839.67 a week for the week ending 4 October, down 0.7% over the month but still 7.8% higher than a year ago, according to SQM Research's weekly index. Three-bedroom house rents fell 1.8% over the month to $734.75, while unit rents rose 0.4% to $650.48.
Source: SQM Research
Buying
Brisbane buyers are searching for homes that do more
Domain's spring analysis of buyer searches calls Brisbane's typical buyer "The Multigenerational Buyer". Pools are the most searched feature, with dual living, granny flats and duplexes prominent alongside sheds and garages. The data covers searches over the three months to August, so it shows what buyers are looking for rather than what they end up paying for.
Source: PropertyUpdate
Investors
More investors are selling in Brisbane
In PIPA's 2026 investor sentiment survey, 23.7% of respondents had sold at least one investment property in Brisbane over the previous year, up from 19.7% the year before. Nationally, only 44.1% of respondents thought the next 12 months would be a good time to invest.
Source: Real Estate Business
Read more: Brisbane property at a crossroads
First-home buyers
The 5% Deposit Scheme helped 102,594 buyers in its first year
The expanded 5% Deposit Scheme supported 102,594 first-home buyers in its first year, including 20,125 in Queensland, saving an estimated $1.4 billion in lenders mortgage insurance. Brokers say borrowing power is now the bigger hurdle: Cotality estimates this year's four rate rises have cut borrowing capacity by almost $90,000.
Source: Broker Daily
Read more: Waiting for the property bottom?
Home loans
More lenders now offer 40-year home loans
Non-bank lender Granite Home Loans launches a 40-year home loan on 6 October for owner-occupiers and investors. Owner-occupiers can take the full 40-year term up to age 45, and the lender assesses repayments over a maximum of 35 years. A longer term lowers the minimum repayment, and none of the big four banks offers one.
Source: Mortgage Professional Australia
First-home buyers
Help to Buy opens to more brokers
From 6 October, a first group of accredited brokers can lodge Help to Buy applications through Teachers Mutual Bank. Under the scheme, buyers need a deposit of at least 2%, and the government takes a stake of up to 30% in an existing home or up to 40% in a new one. There are 10,000 places a year.
Source: Mortgage Professional Australia
Housing supply
Queensland is 32,859 homes behind demand
Queensland approved 107,294 dwellings from July 2022 to June 2025, 32,859 fewer than needed to keep up with population growth, according to analysis of ABS data commissioned by Bolst Property Group. Brisbane needed 21,933 more homes, the second-largest gap of the capital cities after Perth.
Source: realestate.com.au
Housing supply
Units are a growing share of new Queensland homes
Queensland spent a record $20.3 billion on new residential construction over the past year, and units now make up 42.9% of new residential buildings, the highest share since 2017, according to Primara Research. Apartments drove 62% of the increase in the state's residential construction spending.
Source: realestate.com.au
Brisbane 2032
Logan council to consider a $156m ballpark
A report on a privately funded $156 million baseball and softball stadium at Griffith University's Logan campus in Meadowbrook goes before Logan City Council on Wednesday. The 4,000-seat ballpark could expand to 10,000 seats for big events. The report warns that leaving baseball and softball out of the Brisbane 2032 program would reduce investor interest.
Source: WAtoday
Gold Coast
Northern Gold Coast house prices reach $1 million
House medians on the northern Gold Coast have joined the million-dollar club: Pimpama at $1,000,000, Coomera at $1,085,000 and Ormeau at $1,130,000, on realestate.com.au data. Stapylton houses, at $529,000, are the only Gold Coast market with a median under $780,000.
Source: realestate.com.au
Development
Wintergarden plan grows to a 45-storey tower with 290 apartments
A new development application for the Wintergarden site beside the Queen Street Mall would replace the shopping centre with a six-storey retail podium, a 45-storey hotel and residential tower, and a 16-storey office tower. The tower would hold 240 hotel rooms and 290 apartments. The plan still needs Brisbane City Council approval.
Source: Brisbane Times
Monday 5 October 2026
Auctions
Brisbane auction clearance sinks to 25.6%
Only 25.6% of Brisbane auctions sold over the 3–4 October long weekend, the lowest of the capital cities, on Cotality's preliminary count. The combined capital cities preliminary rate was 48.2%, compared with 67.4% a year ago. Final figures are usually published on Thursday.
Interest rates
Big four banks lift variable home loan rates from 9 October
All four big banks are passing on the latest rate rise in full, with variable home loan rates going up 0.25 percentage points from 9 October. Westpac's lowest variable rate rises from 5.99% to 6.24%. If you have a variable loan, check your lender’s notice for your new repayment.
Selling
More Queensland homes are being listed as distressed sales
Queensland distressed listings rose 10.6% in September to 1,655, up 47.5% on a year earlier, according to SQM Research. Nationally the count rose 8.0% to 4,872. SQM says the rise does not in itself indicate widespread mortgage distress, but it warrants close monitoring.
Source: SQM Research
Home values
Brisbane home values fall 1.5% in September
Brisbane dwelling values fell 1.5% in September, the sharpest monthly drop among the capitals, as national values fell for a sixth straight month, according to Cotality. National values are now 5.2% below their March 2026 peak.
Source: Cotality
Selling
Homes are taking longer to sell
Estimated Brisbane home sales over the past three months were 27.2% lower than a year earlier, the sharpest drop of any capital city. Across the capitals, homes now take a median 39 days to sell, compared with 23 days a year ago, which gives buyers more choice.
Source: Cotality
Interest rates
Will rates rise again? The next decision is 3 November
August's 4% inflation result gives the Reserve Bank's hawks more ammunition for another rise, after the cash rate reached 4.60% on 29 September. ANZ and Westpac expect a November rise, while markets put the chance at around one in four. The Board next meets on 2–3 November.
Source: Mortgage Professional Australia · Reserve Bank of Australia
Inflation
Inflation rises to 4.0%, led by housing costs
Prices rose 4.0% in the 12 months to August, up from 3.5% to July, and housing was the biggest contributor at 5.7%. New home prices rose 5.4% as builders passed on higher costs for materials and labour.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Renting
Brisbane's rental vacancy rate holds at 0.9%
Brisbane's rental vacancy rate was unchanged at 0.9% in August, with 3,090 dwellings available, according to SQM Research. Combined asking rents rose 0.5% to $756.15 a week and are 7.7% higher over the year.
Source: SQM Research