Three consecutive interest rate rises have taken the edge off Australia's property market in 2026 — but in dozens of local markets, homeowners have still walked away with six-figure equity gains over the past twelve months.
PropTrack data analysed by realestate.com.au identifies 26 SA4 regions where the median house value climbed by $100,000 or more in the year to end of May 2026, with Perth and Brisbane dominating the list.
Inner Perth led all markets with a median house value gain of $280,000 — a 13.6% rise to a median of $2,263,000. Perth's northwest and southwest followed with gains of $212,000 and $202,000 respectively, while Brisbane's north recorded a $193,000 rise and Brisbane's west was up $184,000. Outside the capitals, the Sunshine Coast gained $157,000, the Gold Coast $145,000, and Toowoomba $137,000.
The unit market told a similar story, with Logan–Beaudesert topping that table with a 28.6% rise worth $165,000, followed closely by Ipswich at $163,000.
PropTrack data — 12 months to end of May 2026
Source: PropTrack. SA4 regions ranked by $ growth in the 12 months to end of May 2026. Only includes regions where median value increased by $100,000 or more. SA4 regions are geographical areas defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, generally with a population of 100,000–500,000 people.
McGrath Paddington agent Alex Jordan attributed strong demand in Brisbane's western suburbs partly to family buyers chasing school access.
"One of the drivers of the western suburbs that attracts families to the area are the school catchments," Jordan said. "A lot of buyers are moving from the southern suburbs, and we're also seeing strong interstate migration with buyers moving from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide."
House values in Brisbane's west rose nearly 1.5% in May alone and 4.7% over the quarter — momentum that Jordan expects to hold, despite some caution creeping in.
"We've seen a shift in buyer behaviour with slightly less activity at inspections and some buyers are slightly more nervous to commit than they were before all the geopolitical tensions," Jordan said. "It hasn't hit values noticeably, but I don't think we're immune from that."
Rate rises and the budget's investor tax changes are beginning to cool previously hot markets.
Sydney's inner west and eastern suburbs and Melbourne's inner east and south have each shed around 2–3% over the past quarter, and PropTrack's executive manager of economics Angus Moore (pictured) noted the slowdown extends beyond those two cities.
"Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide have clearly slowed, after an extremely strong 2025," Moore said. "Prices were down slightly in Perth, and while prices were up modestly in Brisbane and Adelaide, it was the slowest month of growth for both since late 2022 to early 2023."
The federal budget's overhaul of property tax concessions is driving the investor pullback: negative gearing on established properties purchased after 12 May 2026 will be abolished from 1 July 2027, existing owners are grandfathered, new builds remain exempt, and the 50% CGT discount is being replaced with cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax on gains from the same date.
Commonwealth Bank, Australia's largest mortgage lender, has since revised its national dwelling price forecast to flat for 2026 — down from 3% at budget night and 5% in March — with economists citing the combined drag of rate rises and the budget's investor tax changes as hitting prices harder than initially expected.
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