November 2025
Australia’s housing market continued its strong run into spring, with property values recording their fastest monthly gain in more than two years. Accelerating momentum, low supply, and policy support are combining to push national dwelling values higher as the year draws to a close.
Home Values Accelerate to Strongest Monthly Gain Since 2023
According to Cotality’s Home Value Index (HVI), Australian home values rose 1.1 % in October, marking the quickest monthly rise since June 2023. This acceleration has lifted the annual pace of growth to 6.1 % nationally, continuing a trend of steady recovery across housing markets.
“Before the February rate cut, housing conditions were losing momentum, even recording flat to falling values through late 2024 and January 2025,” said Tim Lawless, Cotality’s research director. “The first rate cut in February marked a clear turning point, with home values moving through a positive inflection across most regions and gathering steam since then.”
Every capital city and regional area recorded growth over the month, led by a 1.9 % surge in Perth, while Hobart saw a more modest 0.3 % rise. Across the combined capitals, the 1.1 % gain equates to just over AUD $10,000 added to the median dwelling value in October alone. Since February, capital‑city dwelling values are up 5.9 %, or approximately AUD $53,700.
Demand Outstripping Supply
Cotality’s data points to a continued mismatch between available supply and housing demand. At the national level, home sales are tracking 3.1 % above the previous five‑year average, while advertised supply over the four weeks to October 26 was 18 % below average.
“Such tight advertised supply levels against above‑average levels of demonstrated demand have skewed selling conditions towards vendors through spring.”
Auction clearance rates have eased slightly but remain above the decade average, holding in the high‑60 % to low‑70 % range since the start of spring — reflecting still‑strong buyer competition amid constrained stock.
Policy Support Bolsters Lower and Middle Segments
The step‑up in growth through October coincides with the expanded 5 % deposit guarantee scheme, which came into effect on October 1. This initiative has likely supported demand, particularly across the lower to middle price points of the market.
Across the combined capitals:
- Middle‑market values rose 1.4 % over the month
- Lower‑quartile values were 1.2 % higher
- Upper‑quartile values increased by 0.7 %
“The upper quartile of the market is showing the lowest rate of growth across almost every capital city,” Lawless said. “Stronger housing demand at the lower price points is likely a culmination of serviceability constraints eroding purchasing power, persistently higher investor activity, and a pickup in first‑home buyers taking advantage of the expanded deposit guarantee.”
Regional Markets Strengthen
Regional housing markets also posted solid gains, with the 1.0 % rise in October marking the strongest monthly increase across the combined regional markets since March 2022:
- Regional WA: +1.8 %
- Regional Queensland: +1.1 %
- Regional NSW: +1.0 %
These results highlight the broad‑based nature of housing growth, with both capital city and regional markets benefiting from the same supply‑demand imbalance and improved borrowing conditions.
Looking Ahead: Supporting Experienced SME Developers
As housing demand continues to out-pace supply, delivering well-located, quality homes remains a significant challenge across Australia. State and federal initiatives aimed at boosting supply are beginning to generate activity, but they are yet to translate into meaningful outcomes on the ground. September’s building-approval figure of 17,019 dwellings showed a 12% month-on-month lift and an 8.4% annual increase, yet the trend rise of just 0.9% highlights how modest the recovery remains when viewed in context.
With finance very often the next hurdle it is no surprise that CrowdProperty is seeing significant growth in borrower activity with originations increasing to over $170m in applications every month in the same period. Encouragingly, institutional investor appetite for commercial bridging and construction finance is also increasing, helping to bring the cost of capital down and enabling more viable projects to move forward.
Securing efficient, reliable funding for SME developers will be essential in the next phase of Australia’s housing response — especially for in-fill and medium-density projects that can add supply quickly. CrowdProperty is doubling down on supporting experienced developers, by providing specialist, flexible finance that is fast, simple and transparent, ensuring more quality homes can be delivered where they are needed most.
CrowdProperty provides fast, simple and transparent property project finance for property professionals, learn more.
Opinions or views expressed represent the thoughts of individuals and not those of CrowdProperty or Cache.
October 2025
Australia’s housing market is stepping into spring with renewed energy. After months of steady growth, the latest data shows property values gaining momentum, driven by record-low listings, strong buyer demand, and supportive monetary conditions. With supply still constrained and construction costs high, further gains in home prices are expected in the months ahead.
Property Values Gain Pace
According to Cotality’s latest report, national dwelling values rose by 0.8% in September, marking the largest monthly increase since May 2024. The annual growth rate has lifted to 4.8%, the highest in over a year. Tim Lawless, Cotality Australia’s research director, highlighted that the ongoing imbalance between supply and demand is the main driver of rising prices.
“Once again, a clear mismatch between available supply and strong buyer demand is putting upward pressure on housing values,” Lawless said. “Advertised listings remain about 20% below the five-year average for this time of year, creating a highly competitive market environment.”
Cheaper borrowing costs, following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) recent interest rate cuts, are helping to support buyer activity. Growth in real wages and the Federal Government’s First Home Buyer Guarantee Scheme have added further momentum, particularly in more affordable suburbs and regional areas, where buyers are competing for limited stock.
Construction Sector Challenges
Despite strong buyer demand, the construction sector continues to face hurdles. Rising prices for key materials such as concrete, bricks, and plasterboard, combined with labour shortages and delivery delays, are still putting pressure on new builds. The Productivity Commission report from earlier this year that found dwellings completed per hour by housing construction workers have fallen by 53% over the past three decades.
Looking ahead, construction cost escalation is expected to remain elevated through 2027, particularly in locations with significant public infrastructure projects, including the Olympics in Brisbane, which is leading with increased forecasts at 7%. Sydney and Melbourne are projected to experience increases around 4.50%, influenced by slower project pipelines, while Perth is expected to track at 5.75% in 2025, easing to 4.75% by 2027. Niall McSweeney and Cody Bui from Altus Group noted that “international material prices may be softening, but locally intensive inputs continue to rise as projects run longer and consume more labour per unit of output. This contributes to high construction costs and can slow the delivery of new homes.”
While there is little sign of construction cost coming down, they are at least returning to normal growth level making feasibilities more accurate.
SME Developers and Financing Opportunities
Thee recent planning reform such as those in NSW allowing increasing density in low-density zones (R2), encouraging diverse housing like terraces and townhouses near transport hubs, as well as faster complying development pathways is driving significant increase in activity. David Ingram, CrowdProperty founder and CEO remarked that “CrowdProperty has seen an increase of $100m in loan applications every month for the last quarter, hopefully an early indication of more residential development activity to come over the next year.”
For SME developers delivering residential project, access to flexible bridging finance remains an important tool. This type of funding can help developers act when timing is critical, whether securing a new site while approvals are underway or freeing up capital from projects nearing completion. It enables developers to maintain momentum and navigate the ongoing challenges of high land and construction costs, without being held back by traditional funding timelines.
Looking Ahead
Looking forward, the market is expected to continue its upward trajectory, though growth will vary across regions. Sydney and Melbourne are experiencing steady price gains, while some regional markets are seeing more pronounced growth as buyers look for more affordable options outside major cities. First home buyer demand is likely to remain strong in affordable suburbs, which will gradually spill over into upgrader markets over time. While growth may slow in some areas, the overall trend points to continued value increases across the nation.
Spring 2025 is shaping up to be a season of opportunity for both buyers and developers, as strong demand meets constrained supply and financing solutions help projects progress despite ongoing challenges in the construction sector.
CrowdProperty provides fast, simple and transparent property project finance for property professionals, learn more.
Opinions or views expressed represent the thoughts of individuals and not those of CrowdProperty or Cache.
September 2025
Australian home prices saw growth rates accelerate in August, on the back of strong demand driven by rate cuts and growth in real wages.
Further gains in home values are expected, as supply remains constrained by high costs and ailing productivity in the construction sector.
Home price growth rises to highest level in over a year
Cotality’s Home Value Index posted an increase of 0.7 percent in August, for the largest monthly rise since May 2024. The annual change in Australian dwelling prices has lifted to 4.1 percent as a result.
Tim Lawless, Cotality Australia’s research director, pointed to demand continuing to outpace supply as the primary driver of nationwide housing price gains.
“Once again we are seeing a clear mismatch between available supply and demonstrated demand placing upwards pressure on housing values,” Lawless said.
“The annual trend in estimated home sales is up two percent on last year and tracking almost four percent above the previous five-year average. At the same time, advertised supply levels remain about 20 percent below average for this time of the year.”
The momentum generated by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) current cycle of rate cuts has played a critical role in boosting demand.
The RBA made its third cut to the target rate in 2025 at its August meeting, with a 0.25 percentage point reduction that took the cash rate to 3.6 pecent – its lowest level since April 2023.
Other factors contributing to stronger demand from buyers include growth in real wages, mounting confidence, as well as a keen sense of urgency over the tightness of advertised levels.
Construction costs mount as productivity dwindles
The still heady costs for the construction of new residential properties are also contributing to strong growth in Australian dwelling values.
Altus Group’s Q2 2025 Australian Construction Price Outlook found that Australia’s locally intensive inputs have continued to climb in cost as a result of labour and delivery pressures. These inputs include key construction materials such as concrete, bricks and plasterboard.
The Altus report said that long-term ailing productivity is also a key contributor to the onerous cost of materials and new home builds.
According to the Productivity Commission’s findings from earlier this year, the number of dwellings completed per hour by housing construction workers has fallen by 53 percent over the past three decades.
“We are working more hours, paying more and delivering less,” wrote Niall McSweeney and Cody Bui, authors of the Altus report.
“That shows up in material costs…international prices are softening, yet locally intensive inputs keep rising.”
Output prices for building construction saw a 0.7 percent rise in the June quarter, driven more by labour-led pricing and capacity constraints than materials.
McSweeney and Bui said the only way to deal with the issue is to drive meaningful gains in Australia’s construction sector productivity.
“International material prices can fall, but if projects run longer and consume more labour per unit of output, locally intensive materials will stay high.”
SME developer margins under pressure
CrowdProperty CEO David Ingram said that while the national headlines highlight strong price growth, SME developers are navigating a far tougher environment.
“Land and construction costs remain elevated, and productivity challenges across the sector continue to erode margins,” Ingram said.
“For SME developers — who play a vital role in delivering the diverse, small- to mid-scale projects Australia needs — access to competitively priced capital is absolutely critical. As our SME Developer Survey showed earlier this year, developers face land and new site acquisition cost challenges and margins are being squeezed like never before. Unless the cost of funds comes down, many otherwise viable projects won’t proceed, and the supply gap will only widen.”
Brian Cullen, Property Director at CrowdProperty, said experienced developers are finding it increasingly difficult to make projects stack up.
“Rate cuts may be fuelling demand, but rising input costs and falling productivity mean every basis point in funding costs makes a real difference to whether a project goes ahead,” Cullen said.
“We’re seeing very strong appetite from quality SME developers, particularly in the $5–15 million project range, but the reality is that margins are razor thin. Without access to fair and efficient finance, these projects stall.”
Housing prices set to rise further on strong demand
John Lindeman, CEO, Property Power Partners, expects Australia’s nationwide dwelling values to continue to rise on the back of strong demand driven by multiple factors, including the RBA’s rate cuts and the federal government’s property policies.
“The recent and further expected interest rate falls plus the bringing forward of the Federal Government’s First Home Saver Guarantee Scheme are likely to generate more buyer demand in virtually all locations, especially first home buyer suburbs in capital and major regional cities,” Lindeman said.
“These locations are likely to experience the biggest lift in demand and strong price growth in the most affordable suburbs.”
Lindeman expects this rise in first home-buyer demand to then spill-over and have a slow burn impact on other segments of the market.
“This will lead to an increase in buyer demand for upgrader suburbs over the next few years, especially in Sydney and Melbourne,” he said. Much of this will occur as recent first home buyers decide to upgrade, so the effect on prices will be less and take longer.
CrowdProperty provides fast, simple and transparent property project finance for property professionals, learn more.
Opinions or views expressed represent the thoughts of individuals and not those of CrowdProperty or Cache.
