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About Kooky and Shaka →The total value of Australia's homes fell by $34.1 billion in the June quarter of 2026, to $12,688.9 billion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in its Total Value of Dwellings release on 8 September 2026. It is the first quarterly fall since the September quarter of 2022. Queensland was on the other side of that line: its mean dwelling price rose by $15,800, to $1,130,600.
The national mean price fell by $8,200 to $1,100,400, a decline of 0.7 per cent. Three jurisdictions account for the fall, and Queensland is not one of them.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Total Value of Dwellings, June quarter 2026, released 8 September 2026.
Where the fall came from
According to the ABS, the value of dwellings fell by $92.9 billion in New South Wales, by $44.3 billion in Victoria and by $1.4 billion in the Australian Capital Territory. In percentage terms those are declines of 2.0 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent. Every other state and territory recorded an increase, which is why the national fall, at $34.1 billion or 0.3 per cent, is much smaller than the losses in the south-east.
The three losses add up to $138.6 billion. Set against a national fall of $34.1 billion, that implies the other five states and territories together added about $104.5 billion in three months.
| State or territory | Mean price | Over the quarter |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | $1,304,900 | -$32,700 |
| Queensland | $1,130,600 | +$15,800 |
| Western Australia | $1,123,700 | +$24,500 |
| ACT | $981,700 | -$13,300 |
| South Australia | $979,600 | +$13,300 |
| Victoria | $918,400 | -$19,600 |
| Tasmania | $733,200 | +$15,500 |
| Northern Territory | $614,400 | +$26,100 |
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Total Value of Dwellings, June quarter 2026, released 8 September 2026. Changes are measured against the revised March quarter figures in the same release.
The falls in the mean price were steeper in percentage terms: 2.4 per cent in New South Wales, 2.1 per cent in Victoria and 1.3 per cent in the ACT. The Bureau attributes the national result to lower property prices and describes it as consistent with a softening in housing market conditions.
Related readReserve Bank holds at 4.35% and says housing momentum has shiftedAmong the five jurisdictions that rose, the largest dollar gain in the mean price was in the Northern Territory, at $26,100, followed by Western Australia at $24,500. Queensland's $15,800 and Tasmania's $15,500 were close together, and South Australia's rise of $13,300 happens to equal the fall in the ACT, which is why those two now sit almost level in the table, $2,100 apart. On the revised March figures the Northern Territory's rise is about 4.4 per cent and Western Australia's about 2.2 per cent.
The number of homes kept growing. Australia had 11,531,100 residential dwellings at the end of June, 54,400 more than three months earlier, so the fall in total value is a price effect and not a matter of fewer homes. The year as a whole still shows a large gain: the total value of dwellings was 8.5 per cent higher than in June 2025, according to the media release.
Queensland's place in the table
Queensland remains second in the ranking, a position it has held since the March quarter release. Its mean of $1,130,600 is $30,200 above the national figure and $212,200 above Victoria's.
The state's rise of $15,800 works out at about 1.4 per cent over the quarter. That is a clear slowing. The March quarter release, published on 9 June, had reported an increase of $49,800 in Queensland's mean price in three months, and a rise of 5.2 per cent, or $127.9 billion, in the total value of the state's homes. Growth in the June quarter was less than a third of that in dollar terms.
Related readUnder 1 per cent of borrowers owe more than their home is worth, RBA saysTwo gaps have changed in an interesting way. Western Australia, at $1,123,700, is now only $6,900 behind Queensland. Its mean rose by $24,500 in the quarter, more than Queensland's, and on the revised March figures the gap between the two states was $15,600. At the present pace the second place in the table is a close contest.
The distance to New South Wales has shortened too. It stands at $174,300, down from $222,800 on the revised March figures, because the New South Wales mean fell while Queensland's rose. The mean price in New South Wales is now about 15 per cent above Queensland's.
The March figures have been revised
The ABS updates earlier quarters each time it publishes. Queensland's March quarter mean was first reported in June as $1,123,700 and now stands at $1,114,800. Quarterly changes should be taken from one release, not by setting two releases side by side.
The revision is not confined to Queensland. The national total for the March quarter, first published as $12,772.6 billion, is $12,723.0 billion on the figures implied by the new release, and the national mean has moved from $1,111,100 to $1,108,600. A reader who subtracted June's published Queensland mean from March's would find a rise of $6,900, less than half the $15,800 the Bureau reports on a consistent basis.
How the series is built
The Total Value of Dwellings series estimates what all of the country's residential dwellings would be worth, and reports that total with the number of dwellings and the mean price that results from dividing one by the other. The June figures can be checked that way: $12,688.9 billion across 11,531,100 dwellings gives the published mean of $1,100,400.
Almost all of that value belongs to households. The ABS puts the household-owned portion at $12,183.3 billion, or 96 per cent of the total.
Related readSouth-east Queensland sellers adjust as homes take longer to sellThe Bureau labels every estimate for the latest quarter as preliminary, and revises the two quarters before it as more sales information arrives. That is the mechanism behind the changed March figures. The release also comes with spreadsheets of median prices and the number of property transfers for each capital city and for the rest of each state, which give a finer picture than the state means.
A mean, measured at the end of June
Two features of the series explain why it can look out of step with other numbers published in the past few weeks.
The first is the measure. A mean is lifted by very expensive homes well above what a typical home is worth, so the figure is not comparable with a median. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland, which reports the median of homes that sold, put the statewide house median at $983,000 and the unit median at $810,000 for the same quarter, in a report published on 31 August. It said the house median had slipped 0.91 per cent and the unit median 1.22 per cent.
The two results are less contradictory than they look. The institute's median reflects the homes that changed hands between April and June, and a quieter top end pulls it down. The ABS figure values every dwelling in the state, sold or not.
The second is timing. The quarter ended on 30 June. Since then the Cotality Home Value Index has recorded falls in Brisbane dwelling values of 0.6 per cent in July and 1.0 per cent in August, and put the median Brisbane dwelling at $1,080,142 at the end of August. None of that is in the ABS figures yet.
Related readSunshine Coast home values ease from their autumn peak after a long runRead together, the three sources are consistent with a Queensland market that was still gaining value through the June quarter, at a slower rate than in summer, and turned around the middle of the year. A stock valuation at the end of June captures the high point; the monthly index shows what came after.
What comes next
A national decline led by Sydney and Melbourne is not a Queensland story, but it is relevant to one. Buyers and investors compare states, and the gap in price between Brisbane and the southern capitals has been one of the reasons people gave for moving north or holding back. As that gap narrows, the comparison changes.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland's lending figures for Queensland suggest demand was already easing during the quarter the ABS has just valued. New housing loan commitments in the state numbered 29,543 in the June quarter, down 5.9 per cent, with commitments to investors down 10.1 per cent and to first home buyers down 1.2 per cent, according to the institute's 31 August report.
Interest rates are the other part of the setting. The Reserve Bank raised the cash rate three times in the first half of 2026 and held it at 4.35 per cent on 11 August, and its calendar sets the next Monetary Policy Board meeting for 28 and 29 September. A valuation taken at 30 June therefore reflects all three of this year's increases and none of what the Board decides next.
The ABS has set 1 December 2026 as the date of its September quarter release. That will be the first in this series to cover the months in which the monthly indexes show Queensland values falling, and it will also revise the June figures reported this week. Until then, the ABS figures record where the state stood at mid-year: second in the country by average price, and still rising while the largest markets fell.
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.
