National dwelling values have stalled as higher rates, weak sentiment, and affordability pressures push the heat into cheaper and regional markets.
Australia’s housing upswing lost momentum in April, with fresh figures from Cotality and PropTrack showing national price growth slowing to a crawl.
Cotality’s national home value index rose just 0.3 per cent in April, the weakest monthly result since January 2025, with every capital recording a slower pace of growth over the month.
The headline figure masks deepening divergence across the capitals, with values in Sydney and Melbourne each falling by 0.6 per cent over the month.
Sydney home values are now 0.9 per cent lower over the quarter and sit about 1 per cent below their November 2025 peak.
Melbourne is further down the downswing, with values falling 1.5 per cent over the quarter, leaving the city 1.9 per cent below its November 2025 high and 2.3 per cent under its March 2022 peak.
By contrast, Perth remains the standout growth market, albeit with signs that its earlier surge is beginning to temper.
Perth dwelling values climbed 2.1 per cent in April and 6.8 per cent over the quarter.
Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin also clocked slower but still solid increases, with monthly gains of 1.2, 1.1 and 1.3 per cent respectively.
The ACT was flat on the month, while Hobart eked out a 0.2 per cent rise.
‘Sentiment has fallen off a cliff’, says Cotality research director
Cotality research director Tim Lawless said the April figures reflected a cooling trend that had been in train for several months.
He stressed that the loss of momentum predated the latest rate hikes and that the market had been softening since late last year.
“The housing market was losing momentum from late last year as affordability and serviceability constraints weighed on demand,” he said.
Since then, he argued, the backdrop for prices and activity had become even more challenging.
Lawless said the market was facing “the additional downside pressure of higher interest rates”, adding that “sentiment has fallen off a cliff, and rising inflation is set to drive the cost of debt even higher.”
Demand cools, and price growth shifts down‑market
The softer price outcome is being mirrored on the sales side, with Cotality estimating that capital city home sales over the past three months were 5.4 per cent lower than a year earlier and 7.4 per cent below the previous five‑year average.
The Cotality report also noted that growth was increasingly concentrated in the lower‑priced segments in every capital city.
Lawless highlighted Sydney as the clearest example of this two‑speed pattern.
“The largest difference between upper and lower quartile value growth is in Sydney, where lower‑tier house values are up 2.9 per cent year‑to‑date compared with a 3.3 per cent fall across the most expensive quarter of the market,” he said.
PropTrack’s national figures tell a similar story.
Its home price index showed national prices slipping 0.1 per cent in April – the first monthly decline of 2026, taking the median dwelling value to $910,000.
Across the combined capitals, prices fell 0.2 per cent for the month but remained 7.7 per cent higher than a year earlier, with the median now sitting at $1,017,000.
Sydney and Melbourne again stood out as the only capitals to record price falls, down 0.5 and 0.3 per cent respectively, while Hobart posted the strongest monthly gain at 0.3 per cent, followed by Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth on 0.2 per cent.
PropTrack also reported that April’s falls were driven by houses, with capital‑city house prices down 0.2 per cent while unit prices were flat.
Regional markets still out in front
Outside the capitals, regional housing markets remain more resilient, supported by lower price points and ongoing internal migration.
Cotality’s combined regional index rose 4.2 per cent over the first four months of the year, compared with a 1.8 per cent lift across the combined capitals.
Yet, April’s 0.9 per cent monthly rise was the smallest regional increase in nine months, indicating that momentum is also easing outside the cities.
At a sub‑regional level, some areas continue to post rapid gains, with Western Australia’s Bunbury recording a 9.8 per cent jump in values and Queensland’s Darling Downs–Maranoa rising 7.9 per cent.
No regional SA4 market logged a decline over the first four months of 2026.
PropTrack data reinforced that regional Australia had outpaced the capitals, with regional prices rising 0.2 per cent in April and 10.7 per cent over the year.
It noted that regional dwelling values had climbed 54.4 per cent over the past five years against a 35.8 per cent rise in the capitals.
[Related: 5% deposit turbocharges cheaper homes as price gap widens]
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