Brisbane’s median house price is $1,180,552. The market that produced it has turned. Brisbane peaked in May 2026 and has fallen in each of the three months since, which puts it 2.7% below its high. That makes the Brisbane question a different one to the one investors were asking in March. The numbers below are current to 31 August 2026.
Brisbane median house price right now
Cotality’s Home Value Index at 31 August 2026 puts Brisbane houses at a median of $1,180,552 and units at $854,721. The combined dwelling median is $1,080,142.
Values fell 1.0% in August and 2.7% over the quarter. The annual figure is still +10.8%, but that number is almost entirely the boom that ran through to autumn. It is now going backwards. Cotality counts 91% of Brisbane suburbs recording a fall in values through winter. Advertised stock across Brisbane is 51% higher than a year ago.
The national market Brisbane sits in
The national market peaked in March 2026. Values have now fallen for five consecutive months and sit 3.6% below that peak. The national index fell 0.9% in August.
Rates are the reason. The RBA has raised the cash rate four times in 2026, a total of 100 basis points. The latest rise, on 29 September, took it to 4.60%. Anyone still modelling on the cuts that were expected a year ago is working from the wrong number.
Liquidity has gone with it. Cotality estimates home sales over the past quarter ran 15.5% below the same time last year, and 11.5% below the five-year average. Brisbane is one of three capitals where sales volumes are down more than 20% on a year ago. Auction clearance rates have held below 50%.
Brisbane yields are now among the lowest
This is the change that matters most for investors. It gets missed because the growth headline is still positive. Brisbane’s gross yield is 3.4% on dwellings, 3.3% on houses and 4.1% on units. On Cotality’s figures only Sydney, at 3.3%, yields less among the capital cities.
Vacancy is a different story. SQM Research has Brisbane at 0.87% in August, below Sydney’s 1.71% but looser than Perth at 0.61% and Adelaide at 0.64%. The inner postcode 4000 is at 2.5%, up from 1.6% in March.
Brisbane spent five years being sold as the high-yield capital, but the current numbers no longer support that, so a brief built on it needs revisiting.
Where the yield actually is
The city average hides the part investors care about. Vacancy in some outer corridors is a different market: postcode 4114 sits at 0.45% and 4207 at 0.63%. Postcode 4300, at 0.86%, is now level with the city. These are the affordable house markets. Growth below covers the twelve months to June 2026:
| Suburb | Median | 12m growth | Rent | Yield | Vacancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bundamba | $789,999 | +23.24% | $580 | 3.82% | 0.71% |
| Woodridge | $803,000 | +23.54% | $580 | 3.76% | 0.45% |
| Kingston | $830,000 | +21.12% | $595 | 3.73% | 0.45% |
| Deception Bay | $850,000 | +14.71% | $600 | 3.67% | 0.51% |
| Springfield Lakes | $930,000 | +16.98% | $675 | 3.77% | 0.86% |
| Browns Plains | $927,000 | +21.97% | $630 | 3.53% | 0.49% |
Yields are calculated from the median rent against the median price in the same row, so the three numbers reconcile. Rents are to August 2026. Vacancy is SQM’s August 2026 postcode figure.
Read those growth figures as history. They cover the twelve months to June 2026, which is the boom. Brisbane peaked in May, a month before that data ends. They tell you where demand was, not where the next twelve months go. To test what a slower rate does to a purchase over ten years, run it through the property growth calculator.
The vacancy figures still hold up. A postcode with 0.45% vacancy is a tighter market than a city at 0.87%, which is why we look at these corridors rather than Brisbane as a whole.
What the forecasters expect
The outlook has moved one way since the winter. Most of that is about interest rates rather than housing. Cotality says the balance of risks remains tilted to the downside as housing forecasts are revised lower. It expects the market to stay under downward pressure over the coming months.
Rates are the swing factor. Core inflation came in higher than expected. Cotality notes a growing number of economists now expect the RBA could lift the cash rate again in September or November.
These forecasts were made before the RBA lifted the cash rate to 4.60% on 29 September 2026.
What to weigh up before buying
The average is falling and the corridors are not, yet. Outer vacancy of 0.45% to 0.86% is real. But Brisbane is three months into a downturn, and the suburb data here mostly predates it.
At 3.4% gross, a Brisbane purchase leans on growth rather than yield, and growth has just turned negative. Our view on growth and yield together applies with more force in a market at this point of its cycle.
Negative gearing changed in the May 2026 Budget. Cotality’s view is that yields would need to rise substantially before rental income offsets holding costs while rates stay high. The 2027 negative gearing and CGT changes shift the arithmetic on anything bought from here.
Revisions have been running one way. Cotality first reported Brisbane’s July result as -0.6%, then revised it to -1.2% in the following month’s release.
Where this leaves a Brisbane brief
Brisbane is a harder market to buy in than it was in 2023. The city median has peaked, and its yield is the second lowest of the capitals.
What remains is specific rather than citywide. That means outer corridors under $850,000 with vacancy under 1%, bought on numbers that still work with the cash rate at 4.60%, not on the growth of the last three years. That is a narrower brief than Brisbane has needed for a long time, and the suburb you pick matters more than it used to. Our Brisbane buyers agent page sets out the suburbs we target and why.
This is general information only and not financial advice. Speak to a qualified professional before making investment decisions.
If you want a Brisbane brief built on current numbers rather than last year’s, book a free discovery call.
Sources
- Median values, monthly and annual change, yields, peak dates, sales volumes and revisions: Cotality Home Value Index, September 2026 release, index results as at 31 August 2026
- Brisbane suburb falls, advertised stock and outlook: NAB Australian Housing Market Update, September 2026, prepared by Cotality, 14 September 2026
- Suburb medians and growth: Your Investment Property, CoreLogic data for the twelve months to June 2026; rents to August 2026
- City and postcode vacancy rates: SQM Research, August 2026
- Cash rate: RBA monetary policy decision, 29 September 2026
