Australia house prices 6.2% below peak in September quarter 2026
Combined capital city house prices fell -6.2% from their peak to the September 2026 quarter, yet the monthly mortgage repayment moved by about 10 dollars.
The facts
- Combined capital city median house prices fell -6.2% from their peak quarter to the September 2026 quarter, from 1.308 million to 1.227 million Australian dollars, published by Domain on 5 November 2026.
- The monthly repayment on that median fell 0.2%, from 6,073 to 6,063 Australian dollars, roughly 10 dollars a month, because the Reserve Bank of Australia has raised the cash rate five times in 2026, to 4.85%.
- Sydney house prices fell 7.9% from their December 2025 peak, from 1.804 million to 1.661 million Australian dollars, while the repayment rose 0.2% to 8,211; Melbourne fell 6.7% and its repayment rose 1.5% to 5,014.
- Brisbane is the exception among the larger markets: prices fell 5.4% from a June 2026 peak and the repayment fell 3.9%, or 231 Australian dollars a month, to 5,695.
- The 20% deposit on the combined capital median fell by 16,289 Australian dollars, from 262,000 to 245,000.
- Combined capital prices would have to fall a further 9.8%, to about 1.11 million Australian dollars, for the repayment to sit 10% below its peak; Sydney would need 10.2% and Melbourne 11.4%.
What it means for your money
- The entry price is cheaper, the monthly cost is not. The deposit fell 16,289 dollars; the repayment is within 10 dollars of its peak.
- Glopra's Australian figures cover apartments rather than houses and show the national asking average up 30.7% over five years, so a five-year holder is still ahead on paper while a new buyer funds the same stock at a 4.85% cash rate.
- An owner already letting in Australia faces 30% rental taxation in Glopra's data, and Brisbane is the one larger city where the repayment actually fell, by 231 Australian dollars a month, so the refinancing arithmetic differs by city rather than nationally.
What to watch
- The September 2026 quarter interest rate is provisional in this calculation: it uses the August rate plus 0.25 percentage points for the 30 September cash rate rise.
- Stamp duty and conveyancing are excluded from the calculation, and Domain states these are not forecasts of future house prices.
- Canberra's 4.3% fall is measured from its March 2026 high rather than from its June 2022 peak, so that one row is not comparable with the other cities in the same table.
Sources: Domain https://www.domain.com.au/research/house-prices-are-falling-so-why-arent-homes-getting-more-affordable-1577631/