Property Investment Insights for Australian Investors
The independent source of property investment research, SMSF analysis and investor-grade calculators for Australian investors.
Australian Property Investment Market Overview
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Latest Investment Insights
Expert analysis and market research from our team
Latest from the research desk
Data-driven commentary on Australian property markets, drawing on CoreLogic, ABS, APRA, RBA and Domain releases.
Home Value Index Tracker
Every monthly Cotality release charted — prices, momentum and city divergence.
Live TrackerVacancy Rate Tracker
National and city-by-city rental vacancy, updated with each SQM bulletin.
Live TrackerPropTrack Price Index Tracker
The PropTrack HPI month by month — how the second major index reads the market.
ABS Lending June Quarter 2026: Investor Loans Fall 8.6% — the Demand Shock Arrives
Investor commitments fell 8.6% by number and 10.2% by value — the largest fall since September 2022 — with NSW −15.5% and Victoria −14.2% while investor construction loans hit a series high through the new-build carve-out. The reform's incidence mapped state by state, the 40.3% → 38.0% share reversal, who fills the gap (FHB values +10% y/y), and why our base case has September weaker again.
Top 10 Suburbs for Property Investment — August 2026
The series returns: Armadale (WA) reclaims #1 houses, Cannington (WA) rises to #1 units, and regional Australia enters the rankings for the first time — Armidale (NSW) debuts at #2 units on the country's strongest SA4 unit growth. Plus the first pick-by-pick scorecard of earlier editions (every re-verified April pick positive; the two calls we got wrong documented), a mid-verification reprice printed rather than buried, confidence grades on every entry, and the corrected catalyst map.
Cotality Chart Pack August 2026: What a 5%, 10% or 20% Fall Actually Looks Like
Cotality's August pack opens with downturn scenarios — a 20% fall would rewind Perth only to April 2025 but Melbourne to pre-pandemic levels, and Sydney and Melbourne are already 5%+ below peak. Buyer leverage sits at cycle highs (33-day selling times, 3.9% vendor discounts, sub-50% clearance), gross yields hit a three-year-high 3.72%, and investors reached a decade-high 40.3% of new lending in the last quarter before the reforms — including what that concentration means for the affordable tier's own bid.
SQM Vacancy July 2026: 1.3% Holds — and the Rental Map Splits in Two
The national rate held at 1.3% (40,771 dwellings), but the detail reads like the price map: Sydney and Melbourne eased to 1.7% and Canberra to 1.8% while Adelaide tightened to 0.6% and five capitals sit below 1%. Asking rents +7.2% YoY with units outrunning houses — and Adelaide's +3.5% showing tight vacancy sets a floor under rents, not the growth rate. Same-day analysis of the 13 August release with the underwriting instruction for each half of the market.
NAB Housing Monitor August 2026: Forecast Cut to −5% — Sydney and Melbourne Face 10% Falls
NAB cut its 2026 capital-city forecast from −2% to −5% in two months, with Sydney and Melbourne facing ~10% peak-to-trough declines before a late-2027 recovery. The actionable data sits underneath: turnover at 4.1%, days on market at a five-year high of 34, revisions landing lower — while advertised rents compound at 5.8% annualised into 1.3% vacancy. Why this is the inverse of 2018–19 for yields, and what would make the forecast wrong in both directions.
Cotality HVI July 2026: The Downturn Broadens — Largest Monthly Fall Since December 2022
National values fell 0.7% in July — overtaking June for the steepest month since December 2022 — and the story is breadth: Brisbane and Adelaide posted second straight falls, the regions turned negative for the first time since January 2023, and the upper quartile dropped 3.2% over three months while the lower tier rose 0.3%. Perth (+0.1%) is the last capital rising — with a 120bp June revision as the asterisk. City-by-city analysis, floor signals and the per-profile playbook.
PropTrack HPI July 2026: Fourth Straight Fall — Every Capital Down Except Darwin
PropTrack fell 0.3% in July — the fourth consecutive decline and the sharpest in three years on the index that prints milder moves, which is why it matters: the gentler measure now has every capital except Darwin falling. Perth back under $1m ($999,000), Canberra negative annually, national prices 1.8% off peak yet +3.9% for the year. The Cotality cross-check, why the indices' magnitudes differ, regional resilience (+8%), and range-underwriting for a falling market.
ABS CPI June 2026: Inflation Eases to 3.8% — the August Hike Case Fades
The June quarter CPI broke the market's way: headline 3.8% (below the RBA's forecast track), the trimmed mean steady at 3.6% after three straight rises, and Westpac scrapping the last major-bank hike call within a day. Markets price ~4% for an August move. The housing detail that stays sticky — electricity +22.4%, new dwellings +5.8%, rents lagging — how much of the good news is fuel policy, the 11 August scenarios, and the investor playbook for a long 4.35% plateau.
Explore our research hubs
Two dedicated hubs for the areas investors ask about most — capital city markets and SMSF property strategy.
Capital city property markets
In-depth coverage of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide — prices, yields, vacancy, growth suburbs and investor-ready data for each market.
Browse city guidesSMSF property investment
In-depth guidance on buying property through a self-managed super fund — eligibility, LRBA borrowing, compliance, tax treatment and pension-phase strategy.
Explore SMSF researchFree property investment calculators
Run the numbers before you buy. Australia-specific, no sign-up.
Stamp Duty Calculator
Compare stamp duty across all 8 Australian states, with first home buyer thresholds and foreign surcharges built in
Try Calculator →Capital Growth Calculator
Project long-term property value using historical growth rates from your target suburb
Try Calculator →Borrowing Capacity
See how much you can borrow based on your income, expenses and current investor lending rates
Try Calculator →Rental Yield Calculator
Calculate gross and net rental yield to compare opportunities across suburbs and property types
Try Calculator →Australian Property Toolkit Suite
Two Google Sheets toolkits covering the full investor lifecycle — one for pre-purchase analysis with Budget 2026 reforms baked in, one for ongoing landlord operations built around the ATO Rental Schedule. Buy them together and save $9.99.
Investment Toolkit
$14.99
21 calculators · Budget 2026 NG quarantine, CGT indexation, Division 296, new-build carve-out · A–F deal score
Master Bundle
$19.99 save $9.99
Both toolkits, 41 tabs · Pre-purchase + ongoing management · The complete investor lifecycle in one purchase
Management Toolkit
$14.99
20 tabs · ATO Rental Schedule (not US Schedule E) · Depreciation, valuations, loans, tenants · Up to 50 properties
How we help
Independent research, investment calculators, and specialist referrals — so you can invest with confidence.
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Independent
We publish research, not advice. Revenue comes from newsletter subscribers and from specialists we connect readers with when a deal completes — disclosed on every relevant page.
Data-sourced
CoreLogic, ABS, APRA, RBA, Domain and state revenue offices are our primary references. Charts and tables link back to the source release.
Archived
Every edition, research report and investor guide we've published stays available at /market, /research-insights and /blog.