Markets Editor · Melbourne
Eleanor has covered Australian housing and capital markets for fourteen years, previously at a national masthead's economics desk.
5 stories
Melbourne enters spring with the deepest pool of stock of any capital city. Agents report vendors are pricing to meet the market rather than testing it, keeping clearance rates stable even as choice widens.
Sydney's clearance rate of 67.4 per cent is the highest of the capitals and has now held above 65 per cent since mid-June.
Interstate migration has slowed from its 2023 peak but remains net positive, and Brisbane's rental vacancy rate of 1.0 per cent continues to push renters into ownership earlier than in the southern capitals.
Regional Victoria's two-year decline has ended, led by markets within commuting distance of Melbourne.
Melbourne has spent four years underperforming the national index. The reasons are structural rather than cyclical, and they explain why rate cuts have had less effect here than anywhere else.