Property boom shows first crack as offers plunge 50pc

Sophie Foster

Updated 27 Apr 2026, 11:14am

First published 27 Apr 2026, 1:57pm

Buyers have begun to call time to Brisbane’s property boom as prices hit borrowing ceilings and sellers adjust their expectations.

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After years of sizzling growth, Brisbane’s property market is showing its first real signs of cooling, with reports offers on homes have halved as buyers pull back.

Buyers’ agents have begun reporting a clear shift – fewer bidders, softer competition and less FOMO – plus something Brisbane has not seen consistently for several years: homes selling below listed price guides.

This sharp change in buyer behaviour swept through the market over the past month, according to leading local buyers’ agent Zoran Solano of Hot Property Buyers Agency.

Brisbane has been paradise for those already in the market and a major struggle for those looking to get in for the first time.

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“In the earlier part of the year we were seeing 15 to 25 offers on quality homes,” he said. “Now we’re seeing single digits. Buyer activity has halved, and that’s a meaningful shift.”

That cooling is now flowing through to price outcomes, with properties beginning to sell below their advertised “offers over” price guides.

“I secured one property marketed at offers over $1.45 million for $1.435 million, and another listed at offers over $1.1 million for $1.08 million,” he said. “That tells you sellers’ expectations are lagging behind market reality.”

Mr Solano said there were now clear opportunities emerging for buyers willing to move in a softening market.

“There are great opportunities in softening markets. You just have to have the confidence to act because this is first real glimpse of real opportunity we’ve seen in five years.”

Hot Property Buyers Agency senior buyers’ agent Zoran Solano.

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He said the shift is most evident in the premium owner-occupier segment, where buyer behaviour has become more cautious and strategic.

“Offers that used to come in on Saturday are now coming in midweek,” he said. “People are taking their time. They’re not rushing in the way they were even a month or two ago.”

Selling agents, he said, are increasingly having difficult conversations with vendors about where the market now sits.

“We’re seeing agents go back to sellers saying, ‘it’s not here, it’s here – you need to meet reality’,” he said. “Buyers are still active, but they’re more cautious, more calculated, and taking longer to make decisions.”

Mr Solano said economic and psychological pressures are also weighing on sentiment.

“There’s no question that economic uncertainty, rising cost-of-living pressures and fears of potential rate rises are weighing on sentiment,” he said. “Add in global instability and sharemarket volatility, and buyers are naturally taking a breather.”

He stressed the shift should not be seen as a downturn, but a rebalancing — particularly given Brisbane’s underlying fundamentals, including continued strength in the inner north.