Australia‘s housing market appears to be struggling; however, property sales statistics indicate that sellers still enjoy a significant buffer created by years of price increases.
Data from one of the firms engaged in property market research-based analytics, Cotality, indicates that at the end of the June quarter of 2026, 95.4% of Australian properties that were put back on the market by their owners made money. This figure has slightly decreased as compared to the earlier 21-year record of 96.1% for the March quarter of 2026. The data were reported by SBS News on September 16th, 2026.
This figure is particularly interesting during the country’s economic crisis of the housing sector, with the national average price dropping to 1.5%. However, it must be noted that, despite the recent drop, the house prices remained more than 67% above the rate of six years ago. This significant increase in property values is beneficial for current owners, enabling them to offset recent price declines with profits.
The amount of profits is even more astonishing. In the June quarter, Australian vendors had about US$25.6 billion worth of profits, which is equivalent to A$35.9 billion. Gerard Burg, the company’s director, stated that profitability remains “extremely high” compared to historical levels, but the current market downturn is starting to impact resale results.
The statistics clearly show that ownership time is actually the key in property investment. Properties that were sold at a profit had the average ownership period equal to 9.3 years, while assets that were sold at a loss had only 4.4 years on the average. In effect, time plays an important role in dealing with market fluctuations.
The difference is also significant between houses and apartments. In particular, 97.8% of houses were resold profitably, which is 90.5% in terms of apartments. These statistics indicate that the value of homes has withstood the correction very well.
Sydney made the most substantial accumulated profit, around US$4.71 billion, converted from A$6.6 billion. Nevertheless, its profit margin fell to 92.7%, substantially less than that of Brisbane, which was 99.8%, therefore demonstrating how differently the housing markets in various Australian cities are behaving.
The average size of profit is also starting to weaken. The average national profit dropped from A$378,000 to A$371,000, which is equivalent to US$269,500 and US$264,500, respectively. At the same time, the average loss increased from A$44,000 to A$45,000, or around US$31,400 to US$32,100.
In July and August 2026, the situation became worse due to the expectation of interest rates being raised, thus affecting the demand for property. Reuters reported that on 16 September 2026 the national property market in Australia was about 3.6% lower than in March, and Sydney and Melbourne were suffering losses that were more than 7% in total.
However, the main narrative of Australia’s housing decline involves a lot more than just falling prices. It is comprised of the remarkable benefits of the previous boom. For millions of Australians, the accumulated wealth determines whether they can adapt to a down market or face significant losses.
The property market continues to decline in value, even though the profits from the property businesses are still intact, at least for now.
