What is the Current Situation of State-by-State Australian Property Market in August 2026?

1. New South Wales — 🔴 Weakening / Correction

New South Wales

Sydney is currently one of Australia’s weakest major housing markets.

July 2026 PropTrack data shows:

• Sydney prices: -0.6% in July
• Sydney has been among the largest declining capital-city markets.
• Sydney’s correction is substantially deeper than that of Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth.
• Expensive suburbs are particularly vulnerable.
• Affordability constraints are severe.
• Buyers have become more price-sensitive.
• Units are generally performing better than expensive houses in many areas.

Cotality’s July data indicates Sydney is more than 5% below its recent peak, making it one of the two major markets at the forefront of the national correction.

Sydney outlook

Short term: 🔴 Weak
Medium term: 🟠 Cautious
Regional NSW: 🟢 Better than Sydney

The important distinction is between Sydney and regional NSW. Some regional NSW markets remain considerably more resilient, particularly relatively affordable areas.

Investment view: Sydney is becoming more attractive for buyers who are looking for negotiating power, but I would not assume that July/August represents the bottom.

2. Victoria — 🔴 Weak / Correction

Victoria

Victoria is currently one of the weakest states in the Australian property market.

Melbourne

PropTrack recorded approximately:

July 2026: -0.4%

Melbourne is particularly interesting because it has significantly underperformed the other major capitals over the past few years.

In June, Melbourne was the only capital city with a lower home price than a year earlier, according to PropTrack.

Cotality data places Melbourne more than 5% below its recent peak.

Why Victoria is weaker

Major factors include:

• affordability problems;
• relatively high property taxes and holding costs;
• weaker investor sentiment;
• increased housing supply in some areas;
• slower population/demand dynamics compared with Queensland and WA;
• relatively high exposure to established-home investors.

Interestingly, units are doing considerably better than some houses. In areas such as Boroondara, house prices were substantially weaker while units were more resilient.

Victoria outlook

Melbourne: 🔴 Weak
Regional Victoria: 🟠 Mixed
Affordable regional areas: 🟢 Relatively better

Melbourne could remain one of Australia’s softer markets during the remainder of 2026.

3. Queensland — 🟠 Strong but now cooling

Queensland

Queensland is probably one of the most interesting markets in Australia because it experienced very strong growth before the current correction.

Brisbane

Brisbane was one of Australia’s strongest markets from approximately 2023 through early 2026.

But that momentum has now changed.

Cotality data indicates that Brisbane peaked around May 2026 and has subsequently started falling.

This is important:

Brisbane has not experienced the same depth of correction as Sydney or Melbourne, but its previous growth momentum has clearly broken.

Queensland regional markets

This is where Queensland remains particularly interesting.

Regional Queensland continues to have:

• population growth;
• comparatively strong employment;
• migration;
• relatively affordable property compared with Sydney/Melbourne;
• strong demand in selected regional centres.

PropTrack reported that Darling Downs–Maranoa was Australia’s strongest-performing region, with annual price growth around 18% in July.

Queensland outlook

Brisbane: 🟠 Cooling
Gold Coast: 🟠 Cooling but relatively strong
Sunshine Coast: 🟠 Cooling
Regional Queensland: 🟢 Stronger
Mining/resource areas: 🟠 Highly location-dependent

Queensland could therefore experience a two-speed market: Brisbane cooling while some regional markets continue to outperform.

4. Western Australia — 🟠 Strong but slowing rapidly

Western Australia

WA has been one of Australia’s strongest property markets.

Perth

Perth experienced extraordinary growth during 2024–early 2026.

In June 2026, PropTrack reported Perth annual price growth of approximately 17.1%, making it Australia’s strongest major capital at that point.

But the situation has now changed.

Perth has started experiencing monthly declines, and Cotality says Perth has swung from very strong growth earlier in 2026 to a declining trend in the June–July period.

So, Perth’s situation can be described as:

Strong accumulated growth → affordability pressure → slowing demand → early correction.

Why Perth remains important

WA still has:

• strong employment;
• resources-sector activity;
• population growth;
• comparatively affordable housing;
• limited housing supply;
• strong regional markets.

PropTrack also reported that five of Australia’s ten strongest annual-growth SA4 regions were in WA in July.

WA outlook

Perth: 🟠 Strong historically, now cooling
Regional WA: 🟢 Relatively strong
Mining/resource regions: 🟢/🟠 dependent on commodity and employment conditions

WA is therefore not yet comparable with Melbourne’s weakness, despite the recent slowdown.

5. South Australia — 🟠 Strong but cooling

South Australia

South Australia has been another major success story since 2021–22.

Adelaide

Adelaide experienced substantial growth, but the market is now cooling.

PropTrack recorded:

July 2026: -0.5%

This made Adelaide one of the weaker capital-city performers for that month.

However, the bigger picture remains relatively positive.

In June 2026, Adelaide was still approximately 11.9% higher than a year earlier.

Regional South Australia

Regional SA is particularly resilient.

PropTrack reported:

• regional SA remained at/near record levels;
• regional SA increased about 0.6% in July;
• South Australia’s outback region recorded approximately 17.6% annual growth.

SA outlook

Adelaide: 🟠 Cooling
Regional SA: 🟢 Strong
Affordable regional markets: 🟢 Particularly attractive

SA is therefore another example where the capital and regional markets are behaving differently.

6. Tasmania — 🟠 Soft / Mixed

Tasmania

Tasmania experienced an extraordinary property boom during the earlier part of the decade.

That boom has now substantially moderated.

Hobart

PropTrack recorded approximately:

July 2026: -0.5%

Hobart was among the larger capital-city declines during July.

However, Tasmania’s regional market is more resilient.

PropTrack’s June data showed regional Tasmania up about 13.6% annually, demonstrating that the Tasmanian market is not uniformly weak.

Tasmania outlook

Hobart: 🟠/🔴 Weak
Regional Tasmania: 🟢/🟠 More resilient

Tasmania is likely to remain a selective rather than broad-based investment market.

7. Australian Capital Territory — 🔴 Weak

Australian Capital Territory

Canberra is currently one of the softer capital-city markets.

PropTrack reported:

July 2026: -0.5%

Canberra’s annual growth has also been relatively weak compared with Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Factors include:

• affordability;
• relatively high property prices;
• government-sector employment concentration;
• increased supply in some segments;
• weaker investor demand;
• interest-rate sensitivity.

ACT outlook

Canberra: 🔴 Weak / soft
Short-term: likely continued pressure
Medium-term: potentially more stable once interest rates and buyer confidence stabilise.

8. Northern Territory — 🟢 Strongest short-term capital market

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is an interesting exception.

Darwin

While almost every other capital city declined in July, Darwin increased approximately 0.1% according to PropTrack. It reached a new peak in July.

Darwin also recorded approximately 14.9% annual growth over the year to July.

This makes Darwin one of the strongest capital-city markets despite the national downturn.

NT outlook

Darwin: 🟢 Strong
Regional NT: 🟢/🟠
Long-term: dependent on population, government, defence, resources and employment growth.

Darwin is therefore one of the clearest exceptions to the national cooling trend.

State-by-state summary

State/Territory	Current condition	Direction	2026 outlook
NSW	🔴 Weak	↓	Further correction likely in Sydney
Victoria	🔴 Weak	↓	Melbourne remains vulnerable
Queensland	🟠 Cooling	↓/→	Regional areas relatively strong
WA	🟠 Strong but slowing	↓	Perth correction possible; regional WA stronger
SA	🟠 Cooling from high levels	↓/→	Regional SA remains strong
Tasmania	🟠 Mixed/soft	→/↓	Hobart weaker, regions better
ACT	🔴 Weak	↓	Canberra likely remains soft
NT	🟢 Strongest/exception	→/↑	Darwin remains comparatively strong