The only mainland capital where dwelling values remain below their 2022 peak in real terms, with the highest listing volumes in a decade and the weakest apartment completion pipeline since 2013.
Last updated 27 August 2026
Melbourne enters spring with roughly 41,300 dwellings advertised for sale, the highest August figure since 2015 and about 14 per cent above the five-year average. Unusually, that has coincided with a stable clearance rate: buyers are being met with more choice rather than more competition, which is holding prices flat rather than pushing them down sharply.
The divergence between houses and apartments continues to narrow. Melbourne house values are 0.4 per cent lower over the month and 1.2 per cent higher over the year, while apartment values are unchanged over the month and 2.4 per cent higher over the year — the first sustained period of apartment outperformance since 2017.
Supply is the structural story. Apartment completions in Greater Melbourne are tracking at about 11,400 for the calendar year against an estimated underlying requirement above 20,000. Approvals have recovered modestly, but the gap between approval and completion has widened to an average of 31 months on projects above 50 dwellings.
Selected series for this market
Source: ABS Building Approvals 8731.0 · 2026 figure annualised from January–July data.
Source: ABS National, state and territory population
Median values, growth and yields — select a suburb for the full briefing
| Suburb | Median house | Median apartment | Annual growth | Rental yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick | $1,284,000 | $596,000 | +2.1% | 3.4% |
| Footscray | $962,000 | $428,000 | +3.4% | 4.1% |
| Richmond | $1,506,000 | $682,000 | +1.4% | 3.2% |
| Preston | $1,048,000 | $512,000 | +2.8% | 3.6% |
| Box Hill | $1,742,000 | $604,000 | +0.6% | 3.1% |
| Werribee | $642,000 | $402,000 | +4.2% | 4.6% |
| Glen Waverley | $1,884,000 | $726,000 | -0.4% | 2.8% |
| Sunshine | $848,000 | $436,000 | +5.1% | 4.3% |
| St Kilda | $1,632,000 | $618,000 | +1.9% | 3.7% |
| Craigieburn | $668,000 | $418,000 | +3.9% | 4.4% |
| Ashburton | $1,926,000 | $748,000 | +0.9% | 2.7% |
| Reservoir | $986,000 | $496,000 | +2.6% | 3.8% |
| Dandenong | $762,000 | $424,000 | +4.8% | 4.5% |
| Fitzroy | $1,598,000 | $704,000 | +1.2% | 3.3% |
| Point Cook | $812,000 | $468,000 | +3.1% | 4.2% |
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.
Builders are declining work that would have been taken without hesitation five years ago. Fixed-price contracts, insolvency risk and a thin subcontractor market are converting a planning problem into a delivery problem.
Regional Victoria's two-year decline has ended, led by markets within commuting distance of Melbourne.
Submissions published this week describe assessment timeframes that have doubled since 2018, with referral authorities identified as the largest single source of delay.
The two-speed office market has widened again, with owners of secondary stock facing repositioning costs that increasingly exceed residual value.
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.
The sector has moved from pilot to fixture, and is now large enough to influence advertised rents in the inner city.
Opinion: the standard reading of first home buyer data confuses a compositional shift with an affordability improvement.
Transport investment is moving to the growth corridors where population is already arriving, reversing a decade of inner-city concentration.