In this article
Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →Winter usually thins the market, and in June it did almost everywhere except south-east Queensland. SQM Research's listings release for June, published on 6 July 2026, shows the number of homes advertised for sale falling 4.1 per cent nationally to 248,249 while Brisbane's total rose 1.2 per cent. Brisbane and Darwin were the only capitals where the count went up.
The same release carries a second Queensland figure that deserves a careful reading. Distressed listings in the State rose 17.0 per cent in a month, after an 8.9 per cent rise in May. The national total of such listings is small and still lower than a year ago, but the direction has now been the same for two months.
SQM Research, Total Property Listings for June 2026, released 6 July 2026.
The June count
A month ago SQM Research reported 16,973 Brisbane listings for May, a jump of 18.5 per cent from April that its managing director, Louis Christopher, said might prove to be an inflection point. The test he set was whether the following months confirmed it. June's answer for Brisbane is that the stock did not fall back. A 1.2 per cent rise on May's figure puts the city's total at about 17,200 homes.
The annual comparison has changed more than the monthly one. In May Brisbane still had 1.1 per cent fewer listings than a year earlier. In June it had 8.0 per cent more than in June 2025. The city has moved from slightly below last year's level of choice to clearly above it in the space of one release.
SQM describes Brisbane as one of the few major capitals to continue building supply. The others went the other way in June, as the table shows.
Related readBrisbane sellers concede 4.2 per cent off asking, Cotality chart pack shows| City | One month | One year |
|---|---|---|
| Brisbane | +1.2% | +8.0% |
| Sydney | -5.6% | +17.4% |
| Melbourne | -6.1% | +19.6% |
| Perth | -5.3% | -5.4% |
| Adelaide | -5.2% | +10.4% |
| Hobart | -11.9% | -17.4% |
| National | -4.1% | +6.1% |
SQM Research, Total Property Listings for June 2026. Canberra fell 10.1% and Darwin rose 2.0% over the month; the release gives no annual figure for them here.
Fewer new listings, a larger total
The more telling detail is how Brisbane's total rose. It was not because more owners listed. New listings, the homes advertised for less than 30 days, fell 5.5 per cent in Brisbane in June. Nationally they dropped 10.4 per cent to 69,247, with Sydney down 19.8 per cent and Melbourne down 20.1 per cent, though the national figure remained 10.3 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Old listings, those advertised for more than 180 days, also fell in Brisbane, by 4.6 per cent. The national count of old listings eased 2.1 per cent to 72,266.
So Brisbane had fewer fresh listings and fewer very old ones, and still ended the month with more homes for sale. The growth is in between: properties that came to market in the autumn rush and have now been advertised for one to six months without a sale. SQM does not publish that middle group separately, but it is the only place the increase can sit.
Mr Christopher's summary of the national month was seasonal and measured. "The June figures reflect what we would normally expect to see at the beginning of winter," he said in the release, adding that new listings had eased after a particularly strong May. He also described the market overall as remaining well supplied, and observed that stock is struggling to move.
Asking prices ease again
Vendors' asking prices softened for a second month. SQM's measure of combined asking prices in Brisbane fell 0.8 per cent in June, after a 1.0 per cent fall in May. Brisbane's asking prices were still 12.8 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Related readBrisbane's for-sale stock is 70 per cent above this year's lowNationally the combined measure fell 1.3 per cent, with houses down 1.4 per cent and units down 0.7 per cent, leaving it 7.6 per cent higher over twelve months. Sydney recorded the largest monthly fall at 2.8 per cent. Perth, up 0.5 per cent, Adelaide, up 0.2 per cent, and Canberra, up 1.1 per cent, moved the other way.
Two consecutive monthly falls in Brisbane add up to a little under 2 per cent off the average advertised figure since April. For a seller, the meaning is narrower than it sounds. The measure describes what is being asked across the whole city, not what any home sells for, and a 12.8 per cent annual rise means the average advertised figure is still well above last winter's.
Distressed listings rise for a second month
SQM also counts distressed listings, properties advertised as having to sell. There were 4,263 across Australia in June, 10.8 per cent more than in May. The total is still 6.2 per cent below its level of June 2025.
SQM Research, Total Property Listings for June 2026. Tasmania fell 9.5% and is not shown. State counts are not published in the release.
Queensland's two monthly rises, 8.9 per cent in May and 17.0 per cent in June, compound to an increase of about 27 per cent since April. Mr Christopher singled the trend out. "One trend we're watching closely is the continued increase in distressed listings," he said, pointing to two consecutive monthly increases, particularly across Queensland and Western Australia.
The percentages need their base. The release does not publish a count for each State, only the national total of 4,263, which is under 2 per cent of the 248,249 homes for sale across the country. A 17 per cent rise in Queensland's share of a number that small is a rise from few to slightly more. It is a signal about direction, which is why SQM tracks it, and not yet a description of the typical Queensland sale.
Related readValuers say investors have stepped back from Queensland's sale marketDistressed listings are a small slice of the market
SQM counted 4,263 distressed listings nationally in June against 248,249 listings of every kind. The Queensland figure in the release is a monthly percentage change, with no State count beside it.
The contrast with the southern capitals helps here. Sydney and Melbourne have far more stock than a year ago, up 17.4 per cent and 19.6 per cent, yet their distressed listings barely moved in June, each rising 1.5 per cent. The increases are concentrated in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, the three States whose capitals saw the strongest price growth over the past few years and the ones Mr Christopher named a month ago as leading the rise. SQM does not offer an explanation for that pattern in the release, and none is assumed here. The Australian Capital Territory is the outlier on the annual measure, with distressed listings 44.1 per cent above their level of a year ago.
What it means for a Queensland vendor
A seller in Brisbane this July is competing with more homes than in May and more than a year ago, and more of those homes have been on the market for a month or longer. In general terms that shifts weight onto the things a vendor controls.
The first is the opening price. When the middle of the shelf is growing, a home that starts above the market and comes down later joins a group buyers have already passed over. The second is the method. Mr Christopher noted in the release a movement of sellers toward private treaty and away from auction, which he said is not surprising in a downturn; a private treaty sale lets a vendor negotiate with one buyer at a time, with conditions, where an auction depends on several turning up on the day. The third is patience measured in advance: an owner who needs a result by a fixed date is in a different position from one who can wait, and it is the first group whose listings eventually carry the wording SQM counts as distressed.
The conditions differ sharply by suburb and by type of home, and a citywide count cannot describe any single street. The release measures advertised stock, not demand, and each owner's position depends on the property and the reason for selling.
What the next release will show
SQM Research publishes July's listings in early August. The figure to watch for Brisbane is the same one that mattered this month: whether the total keeps rising while new listings fall. If it does, the stock of unsold homes is still building. If new listings pick up as owners prepare for spring, the total will rise for the more ordinary reason that more people are choosing to sell.
Spring is the season when Queensland vendors traditionally list in the largest numbers. Owners planning a spring campaign now know the starting line: a city with 8.0 per cent more homes for sale than a year ago, and asking prices that have eased for two months running.
Brisbane ended June with fewer fresh listings, fewer very old ones and more homes for sale: the growth is in the stock that has waited a month or more.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
