Stay informed with the latest real estate news, market trends, and expert insights for Melbourne City. Our blog covers everything you need to know about the property market in Australia.
Melbourne auction clearance rates fell to about 52% in the week ending 17 October 2026, with 127 properties passed in out of 389 reported auction results. Here is how Victoria's new reserve price disclosure rules change what a passed-in result means, how underquoting is assessed, and how to negotiate with the vendor afterwards.
Both major parties have promised to restore Victoria's $300,000 land tax threshold, and the Coalition proposes a first-home buyer stamp duty exemption up to $1 million. Here is what that means for Melbourne buyers and investors, including the current Victoria stamp duty rates, land tax bands and the cost of waiting.
Melbourne house prices are down around 5.2% from the March 2026 peak, with forecasts pointing to further falls and auction clearance rates softening. We model the real cost of waiting — from rent and savings to rate scenarios — so first-home buyers can decide from their own numbers.
Buying your first Melbourne apartment means understanding the building as well as the home. Compare owners corporation fees, maintenance funding, special levies, defect reports and meeting minutes. This eight-question guide helps you investigate future ownership costs, with practical examples and checks to discuss with your conveyancer and building adviser.
Victoria’s reserve-price disclosure rules give Melbourne buyers more information, but a published reserve is not a valuation or a guaranteed deal. Learn how pre-auction offers, reserve changes, passed-in negotiations and Section 32 checks fit together, so your bidding limit rests on evidence rather than the seller’s expectations.
Victoria’s October rental changes are now in force. Review bond-claim evidence, rental application and rent-payment fees, minimum-standards records and safety checks for older agreements. This practical landlord checklist also separates existing rent-increase and notice rules from the energy-efficiency changes starting in 2027, with steps for keeping a reliable compliance file.
If you only look at the headline numbers, Melbourne appears to be in a broad property downturn. Look suburb by suburb, however, and the picture is much less dramatic — and much more useful for buyers. The latest Cotality data shows that the correction has been heavily concentrated at the expensive end of the market.
Victoria is about to make one of its biggest changes to residential property price transparency in years. From 1 October 2026, a new set of Victorian underquoting laws begins to take effect. The reforms introduce a new Property Price Statement, mandatory publication of sold prices and tighter rules around comparable sales. For auctions and fixed-date
The Reserve Bank has just made the Melbourne property decision harder. On 29 September 2026, the RBA raised the cash rate by another 0.25 percentage points to 4.60%, effective 30 September — the fourth rate increase of 2026 and the highest cash rate in around 15 years. The RBA said inflation remains elevated and that