The Property and Finance Show

Property Winners and Losers: Brisbane Booms While Sydney Slumbers

• Kyrillos Mansour - First Brick Property • Season 4 • Episode 5

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The Australian property market shows varied performance with national dwelling values rising 0.7% over the March quarter while annual growth softens to 3.4%. Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth lead the pack with strong growth and record-high values, while Sydney and Melbourne show more modest improvements.

• National dwelling values up 0.7% for March quarter, returning to positive territory
• Houses now commanding a 31.5% premium over units
• Brisbane (8.6%), Adelaide (11%), and Perth (11.9%) showing strongest annual growth
• Properties taking longer to sell nationally, up to 40 days from 30 days last year
• Stock remains tight with total listings 11% below the five-year average
• Rental growth slowing to 3.8% year-on-year, the slowest pace in four years
• New NSW pet laws coming July 2025 making it harder for landlords to refuse pets
• Big four banks expecting a 25 basis points rate cut in May
• Investor lending up 22.6% year-on-year despite slight quarterly decline
• First home buyers make up 29.2% of owner-occupied lending, above decade average

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Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

Hello and welcome back to the Property and Finance Show. I'm KM, your host, and this is the April 2025 Property Newscast. So this is the monthly breakdown of what's really been going on in the Australian housing market, with the latest data from CoreLogic and a spotlight on key policy updates. So let's just dive right in. So if we have a look at this national market snapshot, the market is still on the move. National dwelling values rose 0.7% over the March quarter, making a return to positive territory after three months of decline. But annual growth is softening, sitting at just 3.4% year on year. House values rose 0.5% in March and unit values rose 0.3%, with houses now commanding a 31.5% premium over units. That is a massive difference. If we have a look at the next section, which is a city by city breakdown, we can have a look. We'll go capital by capital. So Sydney 0.4% up in March, 0.3% up for the quarter and down 1.4% from the September 2024 peak. So the post rate cut excitement is slightly fading. Monetary growth has dropped from 0.7% in mid-March to just 0.1% in early April. Melbourne is up 0.3% in March, but just 0.3% quarterly and still 5.6% below the 2022 peak. A slow and steady path with no real momentum yet that's Melbourne as a general, entire capital. Now let's look up north at Brisbane up 0.9% in March, 0.9% up for the quarter and a strong 8.6% annual growth. It is still at record highs and continues to lead the pack across the country.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

Adelaide, up 0.8% sorry, 0.8% up in March, 1% quarterly up and a solid 11% year-on-year. So another market at record highs with strong low to mid-T activity. Perth, up 0.2% in March and a quarter as well, and a hefty 11.9% year-on-year. Perth is basically hovering around record highs at the moment as well. Hobart, if we have a look down in Tassie, hobart down 0.2% in March but up 0.2% for the quarter. Values are still 12% below the 2022 peak. Darwin is up 1% in March. So there's been activity in Darwin 2.8% up for the quarter and 2.6% annual growth. So still 4.1% below its 2014 peak but moving in the right direction. And finally, canberra, up 0.2% in March but still down 0.1% for the quarter, 6.8% below the 2022 high. So the top performers Brisbane, adelaide, perth. Our slower movers Sydney, melbourne and Hobart, with Sydney and Melbourne having some movement but still a bit slow.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

We have a look at some sales listings data. So sales estimated sales of 45 or 42,000 sales in March. The annual sales are down 2.1% from peak but still 4.6% higher than last year. If we have a look at the days on market, so how long it takes for a property to sell in general median time nationally rose to 40 days, up from 30 last year. Regional markets hit 50 days, the highest since Q3 in 2020. So it's a little bit slower these days, properties on the market taking a little bit longer to sell.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

Vendor discounts slight tightening to minus 3.5% nationally, with the biggest pullbacks in Sydney and Darwin. So again we'll explain vendor discounts. So a vendor discount is a measure of how much of a discount the vendor is giving compared to the. For a million dollars and it sells for $900,000, there's a $100,000 discount from the million dollars. So we work that one out as a percentage and say that the vendor discount is X percent across that location. Now if the vendors ask for a million dollars and it's sold for 1.1, it would then be selling at $100,000 premium compared to what the vendors are asking, and so the vendor discount would actually be a positive number, which means it's actually not getting discounted and it's actually selling at a higher figure. So we have a slight tightening to minus three and a half percent nationally, with biggest pullbacks in sydney and darwin, which means that across the country typically properties are selling for 3.5% less than the vendors are asking for. But again, of course that's a nationwide figure, so you have to read a little bit further into that to really understand what's going on there.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

If we have a look at listings New listings 39,000 listings over the last four weeks to March 30. So still 4% below the five-year average and total listings of 140,000, which is 11% below the five-year average. So what is this telling us? It's telling us that stock is still tight. That's why properties prices are not really dropping and will probably continue to go up in value. Because we have very little stock. No one is selling, essentially Rents. If we look at the rental market, rents are up 3.8% year on year, so it's the slowest pace in four years, but still moving up Yields nationally across the national gross yield across the country is 3.7%.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

We have a look at a few highlights Darwin 6.6%, hobart 4.4% and Perth 4.3%. So yields are slowing. Sorry, yields are not slowing. Yields are slowly rising in most capitals except Darwin.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

We have a look at finance interest rates, lending what's going on there? Cash rates still at 4.1% in April, but there is pressure mounting for a May cut. Whether it comes or not we'll find out next month. Core inflation is within target range for three straight months. The big four banks expect a 25 basis points cut in May. So breaking news, maybe a hot take Big four banks expect a 25 basis points cut in May. Markets pricing in a 96% chance of a 50 basis points cut if CPI stays soft. So we'll see what happens with the cash rate in May.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

Lending activity owner-occupied lending up 6.7% 6.7%. Can't talk today, which is not good for recording a podcast. Let me start that again. Lending activity Owner-occupier lending is up 6.7% year-on-year. Investor lending is up 22.6% year-on-year, though slightly down for the quarter, and first-home buyers make up 29.2% of owner-occupied lending, still above the decade average. So we have a larger proportion of people purchasing their own homes and those people being first home buyers. Now some big news for New South Wales investors and renters. This is very important news. It's very important to know what's going on here, especially if you're a human being tenanting, leasing a property in New South Wales, or if you're an investor in New South Wales.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

As of July 2025, new laws will make it harder for landlords to say no to pets. Accordingly, tenants can now request to keep pets and landlords must respond within 21 days. If not, it's taken as approved. Landlords can still refuse, but only on specific grounds and those rejections can be challenged via tribunal. The shift aligns with similar changes in VIC and ACT could have, obviously, implications for property damage risk, tenant appeal and future rental term and bond clauses.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

So essentially, though, it is very hard for a landlord to refuse. Essentially if the property is viable for them to have a pet, it's very hard to say no. Some of the reasons that have been mentioned for investors being able to say no is inadequate fencing or the property is not big enough, for example, for the pet that they want to keep or the amount of pets. But essentially it is almost impossible now to say no to a tenant's request to have a pet. You cannot also increase rent based on that. You can also not charge extra for it. You can ask and ensure that on vacating the property, the tenants ensure that there is adequate cleaning and any issues that have occurred due to the pets is obviously taken care of by the tenants. But that's pretty much it.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

So for investors this means thinking ahead about pet policies and potentially adjusting for broader tenant demand. So if you're a tenant, maybe this is great news I know my wife's going to be happy but probably won't listen to this and we might not have to buy a dog. But if you're an investor, this is something you really need to think about, especially if you're investing in New South Wales, because obviously there's a lot of people that don't like to have pets in their homes, and for fair reasons. So definitely speak to your property managers. But July 2025, officially it's going to kick in. So our final thoughts April's data suggests a steadying market, not a booming one. The big three brisbane, adelaide and perth continue to lead, while sydney and melbourne remain a bit sluggish, with a potential may rate cut and tight stock levels. We could see renewed momentum in quarter two, but risks remain, especially for those over leveraged. Don't forget, if you're investing in new south wales, it's time to plan around those new pet regulations.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

And, as always, thank you for tuning in to this month's property newscast. Not newcast, it's a newscast. If you found this helpful, please follow, rate share, tell your friends. We really want to get more and more people listening, getting educated, and the more people listen, the more excited we are, the more guests we can get on and more episodes we can produce. If you have any specific topics you want to talk, have us talk about. If you have any guests you want us to have on, let us know. Send us an email. We do have sponsorship positions available for our full episodes as well, so if you are looking to join as a sponsor, please reach out. Hello at firstbrickcomau. All the show notes will be in the below section. Thank you for listening, cheers.

Kyrillos Mansour (KM):

This episode is proudly sponsored by Digital One Agency, your go-to team for custom websites and mobile app development. Whether you're a startup with a fresh idea or an established brand ready to level up your tech, digital One delivers world-class results you can count on. I personally have used Digital One for my own adventures and business ideas, and I use Digital One for our mobile application that we've developed in the optical industry, and I can tell you mobile app development is a crazy world, very complex, lots of things going on, but with Digital One it was really straightforward, really easy. The guys at Digital One walked me through the steps every step of the way and really made it really simple for us. So if you're interested and you want to take the next steps. You can just scan the QR code in the show notes or find the details below and get in touch with them.

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Kyrillos Mansour

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Fadi Youssef

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Mark Kilada

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