Australia: House prices fall in every capital city – record drop in Perth

Australia's long-booming property market is cooling noticeably. According to the quarterly report published on Oct. 23, 2026, by property portal Domain, house prices fell in every state and territory capital in the third quarter of 2026. Across the capitals, the median house price dropped 4.7% from the previous quarter to 1,226,566 Australian dollars, while units fell 3.5% to 702,858 dollars. For both categories it was already the second consecutive quarterly decline, according to Domain.

Perth was hit hardest: house prices there fell 7.4% to 1,115,227 dollars – the largest quarterly decline ever recorded for the city. Units there also fell 6.5%. In Brisbane, house prices dropped 5.4% to 1,152,122 dollars, in Sydney 4.7% to 1,661,167 dollars and in Melbourne 3.3% to 1,014,335 dollars. Adelaide and Hobart each recorded minus 3%, Canberra and Darwin each minus 2.6%. The only increase: units in Darwin rose 2.2% to 454,732 dollars.

Domain chief economist Nicola Powell said the market has entered a new phase of decline, according to the portal. Despite the fall, home ownership in Australia remains expensive: even in Darwin, the cheapest capital for houses, the median price is still 752,478 Australian dollars, according to Domain, and in Sydney more than 1.6 million. The figures refer to median prices and the change from the previous quarter; they come from a private property portal, not official statistics.