A growing pool of Australians has been heading back towards the property market throughout 2025, and they are more prepared than ever to trade off wish-list features to secure a home in a competitive environment.
According to realestate.com.au’s 2025 Property Seeker Survey of more than 15,000 buyers and sellers, the share of Australians intending to buy a home rose to 19% in 2025, up 4% year-on-year. At the same time, 83% of prospective buyers said they were willing to compromise on their criteria to get into the market, up 3% in a year.
“We have seen more Australians with an intention to buy in 2025. At the same time, home prices have risen 8.7% over the past year,” said Serge Petrichenko, head of market research and insights at REA Group.
This shift in buyer behaviour is playing out against a market that is still running hot at the headline level. Australia’s housing market finished spring with strong momentum, with Westpac’s latest Housing Pulse showing conditions powered by tight supply, resilient demand, and supportive policy, but warning the outlook is “far from settled” as affordability pressures, macroprudential settings and labour-market risks start to test how long recent strength can last.
With housing affordability stretched and competition intensifying, a clear behavioural shift is emerging – what REA Group is calling “COMO”: compromise or miss out.
“More than four out of five buyers are willing to compromise on amenities to buy a home,” Petrichenko said.
The survey shows that buyers are most willing to give ground on:
“By sacrificing an extra bedroom or the walk-in wardrobe that was previously a requirement, buyers are able to enter the market sooner,” Petrichenko said.
Despite intense competition, the average buying journey is getting slightly shorter.
From monitoring the market to paperwork and settlement, the typical purchasing timeline in 2025 was around 40 weeks, four weeks less than a year earlier.
“Lifestyle and family are still important reasons to move, but compared to 2024, the money mindset has shifted as interest rates have come down. It’s more about building long-term wealth,” Petrichenko said.
The survey points to a clear shift in buyer motivation. More Australians are viewing property through a longer-term financial lens, with a growing focus on wealth creation and investment potential rather than simply reducing debt.
Buyers are increasingly looking at how their next purchase can help them build equity and position them for future opportunities, aligning with broader trends in investor activity and portfolio thinking.
Recent Mortgage Choice data also points to the rise of ‘stepping stone’ buying – especially among Gen Z and Millennials – as buyers respond to easing inflation, rate-cut hopes, and rising FOMO.
Investor demand is also strengthening, and investors are making decisions more quickly than owner-occupiers.
“Investor activity has picked up, and these buyers are moving quickly. The time it takes investors to buy has fallen by six weeks,” Petrichenko said.
“With rental conditions tight and home prices likely to continue rising into 2026, investor activity is set to stay strong. At the same time, buyers will likely continue to compromise to make the dream of homeownership a reality.”
From 1 February 2026, APRA will also limit high debt‑to‑income loans to 20% of new lending, a pre‑emptive cap that industry leaders say targets investor risk without materially tightening credit for most borrowers at today’s rates.
Taken together, these forces mean Australia’s housing market is increasingly being shaped by “COMO” buyers willing to adjust their wish lists, a new generation of wealth-focused purchasers, and investors moving quickly to lock in opportunities while momentum and competition remain elevated.
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