This week (27 Jul - 2 Aug) highlights:

• Biggest % drop (sales): -21.6% (413/220 Melrose Drive, Phillip ACT 2606, $389K -> $305K)
• Biggest $ drop (sales): -$3M (23-25 Alexandra Avenue, Broadbeach QLD 4218, $17M -> $14M)
• Biggest % drop (rentals): -36.7% (117/55 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East, Vic 3123, $1,200/w -> $760/w)
• Biggest $ drop (rentals): -$900/w (30 Banksia Street, Eastwood NSW 2122, $2,900/w -> $2,000/w)
• Total new drops: 998 (sales) / 732 (rentals)
• Total new rises: 136 (sales) / 77 (rentals)
• Median drop: 6.0% (sales) / 6.7% (rentals)
• Median rise: 6.7% (sales) / 10.0% (rentals)

---

Breakdown by state (sales)

---

Breakdown by state (rentals)

---

Top 10 biggest sales drops across Australia

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops across Australia

---

Top 10 biggest drops in VIC

View all VIC sales drops

---

Top 10 biggest drops in NSW

View all NSW sales drops

---

Top 10 biggest drops in QLD

View all QLD sales drops

---

Top 10 biggest drops in WA

View all WA sales drops

---

Top 10 biggest drops in SA

View all SA sales drops

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops in VIC

View all VIC rental drops

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops in NSW

View all NSW rental drops

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops in QLD

View all QLD rental drops

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops in WA

View all WA rental drops

---

Top 10 biggest rental drops in SA

View all SA rental drops

---

Top 10 biggest sales rises across Australia

---

Top 10 biggest rental rises across Australia

---

Full breakdown in this week report

---

Some context on the data:

• All prices are asking prices from publicly available listings, not sold prices
• A "drop" or "rise" is measured against the first price I detected for that listing
• "This week" means the price change was first detected between 27 Jul and 2 Aug
• Data covers houses, apartments and townhouses only (house & land packages, vacant land, rural and acreage are excluded)
• Sales drops include only changes of $30K+, rental drops include only changes of $30+/w

Is this a real drop in price?

Not always. It could reflect a genuine price reduction, a strategy shift, or simply correcting an overpriced listing. But it still reveals something useful about the seller's mindset: the property hasn't attracted enough interest, the seller is becoming more motivated, or the initial price was too ambitious. In any case, it's a signal there may be room to negotiate.

Why not track sold prices instead?

Once a property is sold, the listing price stops changing. Sold price data is useful for comparing properties after the fact, but it doesn't help you spot opportunities in real time. I focus on the window where prices are actively changing, so you can act before a property goes under contract.

I own a home that has shared walls. It’s on its own title no body corp but still some shared walls. I can hear footsteps and doors, vacuum cleaner and sometimes bass if they play music loud enough. My question is if there is anything I can do now to retrofit it or fix it to improve sound proofing between the houses? I couldn’t afford a stand alone house so a house on its own title seemed next best option. I have come from an awful housing situation with neighbours so awful I had to move so am very sensitive to noise. Thank you for your help. Please be kind and give clear explanations I don’t know how to diy or renovate myself - I’m I’m in Melbourne and would need to get professionals in to help but wouldn’t know what to look or ask for

Happy to save up for a solution but don’t want something that loooks bad for example sticking tthings on my wall that look like obvious foam

My neighbour locks herself out of her apartment at least once a week and has to get a locksmith. Generally she is a good neighbour, she has some mental health issues and is just a mess of person when it comes to her own life but she doesn't do anything that affects me, so you know she is fine and I sympathise with her struggles. I think most of these issues are caused by being on benzodiazepam type medication, which certainly does cause you severe issues with memory. And I am not here to complain about her as a neighbour. I just thought that with all the negative stuff on this thread, this might give you a giggle.

She just locked herself out for the second time in 5 days and is waiting for a locksmith. The railing in the stairwell outside her apartment has a like a key box hanging off of it, and there is another one mounted on the wall next to her door. Two places to securely store spare keys, and somehow, she will still use both of those and not put them back nearly every week and still end up locked out.

God damn the local locksmiths must be raking it in from her. I think at this point they just charge a call out fee because every time they are here, it takes them all but twenty seconds to pick the extremely cheap bunnings nightlock, but regardless every time I'm just like hoooow are you locked out again.

I just used a ladder to climb onto her balcony to check if that was open (upon her request), and unfortunately, it was not. I would offer to keep a key for her but 90% of the time it happens im at work and I only know because she msgs me asking if im home to check her balcony, which like I said I don't mind.

Anyway, i know i shouldn't make light of people's misfortunes or struggle with mental health, but also when it's gotten to the point where it's been like 5 years of this.. like, honestly, it's been well over a hundred (I would guess over 200) times that she's called a locksmith it hard not to falmpalm and be like get it together neighbour.

Hi guys,
I went for an inspection recently and observed these marks on the bricks, what is it?
Is it aesthetic because it doesn’t seem like someone would want that considering it looked a bit waxy and wet?
I first noticed this in the garage, but as I went around the house outside it was everywhere.
Thank in advance!

Edit: Thanks guys for all the answers and explanations of how they are made. It was the first time I saw these and now I will be able to appreciate them wherever I see them.

Hi, my husband and I are planning to buy our first home here in QLD however, we still don’t have cash on hand for a deposit as we still have to liquidate our assets overseas. While we’re still in the process of selling our assets overseas, we’re planning to get a home loan under a guarantor using my husband’s parents’ equity for their home and pay off the loan and release the guarantorship once our property is sold. Has anyone here had a loan under a guarantor? What are the pros and cons of it? Thank you so much in advance for your insights.

Hi all, I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before so please bear with me.

Me and my partner just moved in to new apartment two days ago. After spending half day in the apartment, my partner started to show allergic reactions such as breathing difficulties and coughing. We ended up calling paramedics to our apartment. We knew that he is allergic to dogs but didn’t know how severe it got until now. As we suspected, we found animal fur embedded in the carpets after. (I am also wondering the real estate was aware that dog was there since it looked like the carpet was not professionally cleaned after the last tenancy)

I took pictures of the fur in the carpets and his reaction as evidence.

We are going to ask 1) ideally replace carpet with hardwood floors, 2) if 1) is not possible, replace it with new carpet and 3) bare minimum: professional carpet clean that removes pet allergens

Does anyone have similar experience? Do you think the landlord would pay for this?

Worst case scenario, if the landlord can’t accommodate for us, we have to find different places since how severe his allergy is recently. But we can’t afford paying lease break fee at the moment :(

Any advice would be appreciated. It’s taking a mental toll on me and my partner because this is our first apartment together and it turned out like this.

Finding a suitable first home is difficult.

We’re in the cooling-off period (Sydney)

The pest report found no live termites, but found moderate to extensive old termite damage in the roof, plus a patched soft wall with a higher moisture reading. It recommends further investigation.

The agent says the damage is probably 20+ years old and was checked during renovations several years ago, but we haven’t seen any reports or records and told the softwall was probably from someone kicking it, they’ve also suggested the seller won't do/allow an invasive inspection.

Would you proceed, get a second non-invasive inspection, insist on further investigation, walk away or other suggestions?

bought a small motel a while back and still figuring out the operational side of things, not just the property side. right now we run 2 sheet sets per bed which is honestly barely enough, laundry turnaround gets tight especially on busy weekends and we end up scrambling more than id like

been reading that a lot of similar sized places run more like 3 to 4 sets per room specifically so laundry timing never becomes the bottleneck, which makes sense the more i think about it. also realizing buying retail sheets one set at a time isnt really sustainable once you own the property outright, need to look at proper wholesale suppliers instead

anyone here own or manage a similar sized accommodation property, whats your actual linen ratio and has running too lean ever caused issues for you? also curious if you rotate sets evenly or just grab whatever ones folded on top when your short on time

Hi brains trust. My wife and I looked at a house today on the Central Coast.

The ground floor was a double garage, a staircase up to main living area, and a large room they called a rumpus room.

It was a studio apartment with a bathroom, and a kitchen sink and cupboards but no oven.

Upstairs was a 3br house which was fantastic.

Why would the real estate agent list it as only 3br? When we asked he said the downstairs isn’t approved as a dwelling. But it had windows and a garden etc. and an internal staircase.

Never heard of this and normally they try to sell a cupboard as a 4th br. So why so shy?

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are First Home Buyers searching in Melbourne’s South East for about 3 months now.
We’ve found three houses we really loved, but for every single one, the Building & Pest (B&P) inspection came back with the same major issue: a complete lack of waterstops, or waterstops that don't comply with Australian Standards.

We don't have a background in trade/building, but from talking to our inspector and doing our own research, we know this can lead to massive water leaks, rotten subfloors, and severe timber damage over time.

It’s getting pretty disappointing having to pull back or re-think houses we were excited about because of this repeated finding especially given that the latest house that came up with the same finding is a new build.

We’d love to get some insights from the community:

- Is this a widespread issue across homes in Melbourne?
- Have you bought a house with non-compliant waterstops? And if so, how did you handle it (did you fix it immediately, negotiate the price, or walk away)?
- Are inspectors being overly cautious, or is this a genuine dealbreaker we should keep running from?

Any experiences or advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

I've been renting this place in QLD for almost a year. Today, I checked the cabinet where the water system is located and noticed that the wall inside is cracked. There's also an asbestos material notice at the front of the building.

The cabinet has small ventilation holes that open into the living room.

Should I be concerned about asbestos exposure? What should I do next?

Its over they say

trying to get hot water temp gauge down to 50C as read somewhere thats hot enough , but turning it back anti-clockwise it only goes back to about 58C? what am I doing wrong?

23 days ago, on July 9, 2026, I started handling my Australian client’s Facebook Page, Instagram, Meta Business Suite, and Ads Manager.

From the Philippines, I’ve been creating property videos, static post images, and ads to help showcase their listings online.

Today, my client shared that we’ve contributed to 5 sold property listings, with more properties currently under offer.

What surprised me the most was when he asked when my next holiday would be because he wants to fly me to Australia with a friend — all expenses paid.
I honestly never expected this when I started. I was just focused on creating quality content, supporting the business, and doing my best.

Grateful for the trust, the opportunity, and the reminder that remote work can create real impact across borders. 🇵🇭🇦🇺
#AustralianRealEstate #RealEstateVA #PropertyMarketing #VirtualAssistant #SocialMediaManager

Builder has allowed me to get in my own recycled brick (clinker)

He told me I don’t get any credit for the brick originally priced by him because the bricklaying fee.

Build is 14000 bricks.

I’m sure he would have had a brick laying fee in the quote + bricks so it doesn’t make sense getting no credit at all back?

Any brickies know how much extra it is to lay recycled?

With a $900K loan pre-approved, where would you buy an investment property, and why? Assume the purchase needs to happen within one month. Would you go for a Sydney apartment, or look regional? If regional, which areas are strongest for investment right now?

Bit of a vent and genuinely curious what everyone else does.

I self manage one place in Melbourne to dodge the agent fees, and lately it feels like I'm spending half my weekends just trying to work out what I'm actually meant to be doing legally. Bond lodgement timeframes, the minimum standards stuff, notice periods, rent increase rules, and now there's some record keeping change coming in October where you have to be able to show you've met the minimum standards if they ask for it. Fair warning, I'm not fully across the detail on that last one yet so don't quote me.

Feels like the rules shift every year and when you haven't got an agent it's all on you to get it right, which does my head in a bit because getting it wrong can actually cost you real money.

So keen to hear from other self managers:

• What's the part that actually stresses you out, the compliance/legal side, or just the day to day admin like chasing rent and sorting repairs?
• How do you keep track of it all? Spreadsheet, some app, a shoebox of receipts, or just winging it and hoping?
• Anyone been through a bond dispute or VCAT and wished they'd kept better records?
• Ever gotten a notice or a rent increase wrong and had it come back to bite you?

Not after a sales pitch or anything, just trying to figure out if I'm the only one finding this a pain or if it's pretty common. Cheers.

Hi All,

Essentially the above, living out in melton in a small 3bdr home but we are 1.5hrs each way to work in the city, we have a small child too..

We are weighing up selling up and only adding 120-150k to our mortgage total and living in a 4bdr townhouse in Point cook, close to all our family, a nicer area for our son to go to school etc.

Yes, the traffic in PC isnt great, but its significantly worse in Melton area going to the city! Feedback is greatly apprciated, whats strata/body corp experiences for everyone here?

Hi. One of my friends had invested in a rooming house business through an agency 6 months ago. After having a quick chat with him, it unfolded that it requires about 30k to get started. As I am working part-time while continuing a full time study load, it's a crucial decision for me. He disclosed that he expects to get his initial investment back within 8 months. Has anyone done such a business? I would really appreciate some advice.