October 2026 · Issue #10
Values are falling in almost every suburb, and Brisbane auctions cleared one in five
Two sets of numbers landed this week, and they point the same way. Home values are falling in almost every capital-city suburb, and last weekend’s auctions cleared well below the level that usually signals a balanced market. Brisbane was weaker still.
Values: nearly every suburb is now going backwards
Cotality’s latest figures show 93% of capital-city suburbs recorded a fall in values over winter, up from 45.8% in autumn. That is a different kind of downturn to the earlier part of the year, when the falls were concentrated in a handful of expensive markets. Nationally, the Cotality index fell 0.9% in August, its fifth monthly fall in a row, and sits 3.6% below the March peak. Brisbane fell 1.0% in August.
Cotality Home Value Index · August 2026
| Capital-city suburbs with a fall, winter | 93% |
| Same measure, autumn | 45.8% |
| National index, August | −0.9% |
| Consecutive monthly falls | 5 |
| Below the March peak | 3.6% |
| Brisbane, August | −1.0% |
Auctions: Brisbane cleared about one in five
The final clearance rate for the week ending 4 October was 45.4% across the combined capital cities, down from 46.0% the week before, on 1,212 auctions. Brisbane’s was 21.2%, down from 32.9%. Brisbane’s weekly sample is much smaller than Sydney’s or Melbourne’s, so one weekend can move it a long way, but two weeks in a row below a third is worth noticing.
Cotality final clearance rates · week ending 4 October 2026
| Combined capital cities | 45.4% |
| Week before | 46.0% |
| Auctions held | 1,212 |
| Brisbane | 21.2% |
| Brisbane, week before | 32.9% |
When fewer than half of auctions are clearing, the price that matters is the one buyers will actually pay this month, not the one a neighbour got in the spring of last year.
The Redlands read
Selling, buying or holding
If you’re selling, price to the last sixty days of sales in your street or complex rather than to the peak. Buyers have more choice and more time, and they are comparing everything.
If you’re buying, the balance of power has moved your way. Homes that have been on the market a while are where the negotiating room is.
If you’re holding, a national or capital-city figure is not your street. These numbers describe the trend; the Redlands figures for your own area are what decide anything.
General information only — not financial, tax or legal advice.
Is yours a three-week home or a sixty-day one? Get a straight figure against the last sixty days of sales in your complex, delivered as a private page on your phone.
Get a straight number
Greg Leigh — local Redlands specialist, Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty. Published 14 October 2026.
Sources: Cotality Home Value Index and housing downturn analysis (winter and August 2026); Cotality final auction clearance rates, week ending 4 October 2026. Capital-city figures; Brisbane figures as published.