More homes are being listed for sale in some of the country’s hottest property markets as sellers look to cash in on recent boom-time conditions.
The latest Market Snapshot report from realestate.com.au has revealed where more homes are hitting the market this winter, offering buyers a rare window of opportunity in markets that have been running hot for years.
Across the country, the number of properties newly listed on realestate.com.au in June was 13% higher than 12 months earlier.
But in some red-hot markets like Darwin, Perth and Brisbane – which have experienced a run of remarkable price growth - the volume of new stock hitting the market is even higher.
Senior economist at realestate.com.au, Anne Flaherty, said cooling market conditions and looming property tax changes for investors were likely behind the jump.
“Owners in these markets may be looking to capitalise on the significant gains seen in recent years,” Ms Flaherty said.
“Changes to capital gains from 1 July 2027 could also be incentivising more sellers to head to market sooner.”
In Darwin, the number of new property listings in June jumped 32% year-on-year, followed by a 25% surge in Perth and 22% increase in Brisbane.
New and total listings on realestate.com.au
Source: realestate.com.au Market Snapshot, June 2026
The total number of listings – which captures older stock as well as new listings – is now higher than a year ago in every capital city except Hobart and Darwin.
“Overall, conditions became more favourable for buyers in June, with relatively high levels of stock for sale and softening home prices,” Ms Flaherty said
Data from PropTrack shows national home values dipped for a third straight month in June as rising interest rates and significant changes announced in the federal budget weigh on buyer sentiment.
The largest monthly declines were recorded in Sydney and Perth, easing 0.5% during the month, followed by Melbourne and Canberra – both down 0.4%.
But aside from Melbourne, home prices remain higher than this time last year in every capital city and region.
Despite the recent pullback, Perth remains the strongest capital city for annual price growth with home values up 17% over the past 12 months alone.
Local real estate agent Oliver Hess from Haiven Property said the market remains undersupplied, though the landscape is slowly shifting in favour of buyers.
“To give you context, at the moment we have an average of around six groups through each open home for the first couple weekends, whereas at the end of last year it would have been pretty safe to bank your hat on getting 18, 20 groups,” Mr Hess said.
“You'd shake a tree and a bunch of buyers would jump out and all be interested in the property. So we're almost a quarter of what we were getting.”
Agents say custom, turnkey properties are still attracting strong interest in Perth, like this home at 9C Raleigh Road, Sorrento which had dozens of groups through each open home and sold for $4.75 million. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
He said most transactions were being driven by owner occupiers who have a reason to move, such as needing a bigger house, with turnkey properties highly sought after.
“Anything that requires a fair bit of work doing to it is moving slower, because building or renovating at the moment is pretty challenging.”
But while buyers are becoming more choosy in many of the small- and mid-sized capital cities, Darwin is yet to see price growth pull back from current all-time highs.
Prices in the top end have jumped close to 17% over the past 12 months, and local agent Stewie Martin from Smart Property Group said investors remained active.
“There’s no doubt in the first quarter of the year, it was an absolute white-hot sellers market,” Mr Martin said.
Investors remain active in Darwin due to its affordability and strong rental yields. This three-bedroom unit with marina views recently sold for $650,000. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
“We have seen some of the investment buying energy come out of the market, but we're still seeing quite good numbers, often double digits to open homes.
“The cheap and cheerful units are still very sought after by investors, particularly that sub-$600,000 bracket in smaller complexes.
“And we're finding that high-end, turnkey properties at that million-dollar-plus range are still performing very well. The budget doesn't seem to have had a huge impact on those kinds of properties.”
Under the federal budget changes, investors will no longer be able to negatively gear established properties, while the 50% capital gains tax discount will be replaced with a new inflation-based indexation model – a move property professionals say will drive more investors towards newly built properties or higher yielding properties.
Larger capitals cool
While the full impact of the federal budget changes will take time to reflect in property data, auction clearance rates are one of the few metrics to show an immediate impact.
In the nation's major auction markets of Sydney and Melbourne, buying and selling agents say investors have largely abandoned the established property market, giving first-home buyers and owner occupiers more choice and less competition in some regions.
As of the last week of June, auction clearance rates nationally have held below 50% for eight consecutive weeks, and are sitting around pandemic low levels in Sydney and Melbourne.
Ms Flaherty said clearance rates were already cooling on the back of three RBA interest rate hikes earlier this year.
“Low clearance rates suggest a mismatch between buyer and seller expectations, which could point to further price falls over the coming months,” Ms Flaherty said.
Sydney’s median home price has slipped 2.5% since peaking in March 2026, while Melbourne is around 3% off its peak.
But any price falls will likely be short lived according to the latest realestate.com.au Property Market Outlook.
Sydney and Melbourne are expected to feel the brunt of the slowdown, with values expected to decline by 3% and 4% respectively throughout 2026, before bouncing back in 2027.
Source: realestate.com.au Property Market Outlook - June 2026
The chief executive of performance and value at national real estate agency Ray White Group, Thomas McGlynn, said there have been early signs of a bounce back in recent weeks, with activity returning to levels last seen at the end of May.
"Our clearance hit a 7 week high as bidder activity stabilised and week one open home attendance was also stronger last week," Mr McGlynn said.
He said other key indicators such as reserve versus sale price, highest offer versus sale price, and the gap between passed-in results and reserve, were all slightly softer.
"To me, that suggests our members are working hard to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers."
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The snapshot report showed that while it’s taking homes longer to sell compared to a few months ago, properties are still being snapped up at a relatively typical rate.
“The median days on market nationally has decreased from 37 to 36 days year-on-year,” Ms Flaherty said.
She said capital cities have held steady at 32 days, while regional days have fallen from 51 to 44 days.
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