After more than a year in which three of our capital cities – Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane – streaked away in terms of value growth, all of Australia’s mainland cities now appear to be on similar trajectories.
A new survey by the industry researcher Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) says growth rates between the capital cities are now at their narrowest since March 2021.
The difference between the best and worst-performing state capitals is 9.8%. The record-level disparity came just before the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 when the percentage difference was 26.1%.
These trends are useful for investors seeking new opportunities in the property market. With values predicted to rise across Australia over the next 12 months, investors who prioritise capital growth should be circling opportunities right now.
Perth and Adelaide continue to be the best-performing markets currently. Both are registering annual value growth rates of 8.6%, which is an amazing return on investment but still behind their cyclical highs of more than 25%, according to Cotality.
In the past five years, Perth has seen its value rise 137% – the highest of all capital cities.
Cotality Research Director Tim Lawless said the housing market was changing quickly with the pace of capital gains “slowing across the mid-sized capitals”.
Meanwhile some of the lagging property markets – Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart – are seeing green shoots and moving “back into a positive growth position”.
“Growth across Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane has slowed amid worsening affordability constraints, reduced interstate migration and a drop in investment demand,” Mr Lawless said.
In Sydney, values have bounced back from a 12.4% decline in early 2023 to positive growth by July 2023. They peaked at 12.3% some 18 months ago but growth has slowed to 1.1%, its lowest figure since June 2023.
Melbourne’s annual rate of decline has eased from -7.8% in January 2023 to -1.2% as values steadily increase. Hobart’s back in positive territory (1%) after hitting a peak decline of -11.8% in March 2023.
Other findings from the Cotality report:
1.3% is the average dwelling value increase nationally over the three months to May.
34 days is the average time it takes to sell a residential property.
43,903 sales occurred in May, taking the rolling 12-month count to 526,530.
35,069 properties were advertised for sale over the four weeks to 1 June 2025.
Discounting averaged 3.4% over the three months to May, down from the recent high of 3.7%.
Darwin continues to lead the pace of quarterly growth, up 4.3% over the three months to May. Perth and Brisbane tied for second (+1.6%).
Regional Australia continues to perform strongly, especially regional Western Australia (+12.5%) and regional South Australia (+12.4%).
Combined value of residential real estate has risen to $11.4 trillion.
Rental growth has now cooled with just a 0.4% rise in May compared with April’s result.