Property — prices, rates and what they mean
The evergreen picture of property, in plain English: median house prices city by city, how values have grown over any period you choose, and the tools to work out what buying actually costs. Sourced from the ABS and RBA — dated, checked, and never predicted.
The straight answer
It’s a two-speed market: Darwin (up 25% in a year), Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are surging while Sydney and Melbourne barely move. Sydney is the dearest at $1.49m, Hobart the cheapest capital at $740k — and if you’re buying, stamp duty is the biggest bill after the deposit.
The latest property brief
AU Property Brief — week of Friday 12 June 2026 — the two-speed market: Darwin, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide surging while Sydney and Melbourne barely move, and what that means for buyers and owners.
Why isn’t the brief daily?
Property moves quarterly, not daily — the property brief is published when the data gives us something worth saying. For daily coverage of rates and markets, read today’s brief.
Median house price by city
Established-house medians, ABS, quarter 2026-Q1. Change is year-on-year.
Where these numbers come from
- Source: ABS Residential Dwellings (CC-BY 4.0), quarter-lagged — strong for the trend and the city-vs-city picture, less precise week to week.
- Want the long run? Drag the timeline on the growth chart. Last reviewed 2 July 2026.
Thinking of buying? Work out your real upfront cost
Stamp duty is usually the biggest upfront cost after your deposit, and it differs a lot between states.
Work out the costs
- Use the stamp duty calculator, or jump to your state for exact rates and first-home-buyer concessions: NSW · VIC · QLD · WA · SA · TAS · ACT · NT.
- Then check your mortgage repayments and borrowing power.
- Not sure where to start? Work out what you can actually afford — borrowing power, a realistic price range and the all-in cash to get in, in one interactive panel.
The long game
- Want the long-run picture? See how property values have grown across every state since 2011 — an interactive, ABS-sourced growth chart with a timeline you can drag.
- Watch how your equity builds over 10–30 years as the loan shrinks and the value grows.
- New to all this? Follow your path to buying — every step from deposit to keys, with the numbers worked out.
Digging into a specific market?
Start with the NSW property investing guide, then explore the regions we cover in depth: Dubbo · Newcastle · Central Coast · Wollongong · Wagga Wagga · Bathurst · Orange · Tamworth.
Your call
Before you fall for a suburb, find out what a bank will actually lend you — run the borrowing power calculator, then add stamp duty on top. Budget first, inspect second; doing it the other way round is how people end up bidding with money they don’t have.