Property Wrapped 2025: Australia’s Property Market Recovery & Where to Invest in 2026

By Molly Benjamin, Founder of Ladies Finance Club

Listen to the full podcast here.

If Spotify Wrapped tells you your most-played songs, this episode is your 2025 property market wrapped minus the hype, plus the insights that actually matter if you’re buying or investing in 2026.

In this special end-of-year episode of Get Rich, I sat down with Arjun Paliwal, founder of InvestorKit, to unpack what really happened across the Australian property market in 2025.

From recovery trends and growth markets to buyer behaviour, negotiation tactics, and the biggest mistakes holding people back, this is your no-jargon recap of the year that was, and what it means for your investment strategies heading into 2026.

2025 in One Word: Recovery

When I asked Arjun to sum up 2025 in one word, he didn’t hesitate.

Recovery.

After a softer national market through much of 2024 and a cautious start to 2025, the second half of the year told a very different story. Across Australia, even markets that had been flat or moving backwards finally returned to positive growth.

Nationally, property prices are now up around 7.5% over the past 12 months, which sits above long-term averages of 5–7%. Regional markets have led the charge, growing closer to 8.6%, confirming that this wasn’t just a headline bounce, it was a broad-based recovery.

That context matters. Recovery doesn’t mean every market boomed equally, but it does mean confidence, momentum, and buyer activity returned in a meaningful way.

The Three Biggest Property Trends of 2025

1. Darwin Was the Standout Performer

One of the biggest surprises of the year was Darwin, which recorded over 17% growth in housing values in 2025, according to CoreLogic.

While many investors were focused elsewhere, Darwin quietly delivered the strongest property growth nationally, a reminder that smaller markets can outperform when market dynamics line up.

2. WA, SA and Queensland Kept Defying Expectations

Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland have been written off prematurely for years.

People said the boom was over in 2022.
Then again in 2023.
Then again in 2024.

And yet, these markets kept delivering.

Strong population growth, affordability pressures in the eastern states, and limited supply meant these regions continued to outperform. Sometimes the most reliable trend is simply momentum paired with fundamentals.

3. Victoria and NSW Finally Recovered

For the first time in years, regional Victoria and New South Wales returned to long-term average growth rates of around 5–6%.

These are large markets, and when they recover, they significantly influence national figures. While they weren’t top performers, the fact they’re no longer dragging results down was a major part of Australia’s overall recovery story.

Was 2025 a Buyer’s Market or a Seller’s Market?

The honest answer: it depended where you were buying.

• Early 2025: Buyer-friendly conditions in NSW and Victoria
  
• Late 2025: Transitioning to seller-friendly conditions
  
• WA, SA, QLD: Seller’s markets for most of the year
  

This is why broad headlines don’t help much. The Australian property market isn’t one market, it’s hundreds of local markets behaving differently at the same time.

Where Was the Most Buyer Activity?

In 2025, affordable price points dominated.

• Strongest growth: $550k–$750k range
  
• Most competition: entry-level houses and family homes
  
• Investors led the recovery, with first-home buyers also returning as confidence improved
  

Looking ahead to 2026, Arjun expects activity to shift upward into the $650k–$950k range, especially in recovering markets where affordability is starting to normalise.

Investors vs First-Home Buyers: Who Led the Charge?

While investors were the dominant buyer group in 2025, first-home buyers also returned in meaningful numbers.

Why? Because rising prices create urgency.

When buyers believe prices are likely to increase further, waiting feels riskier than acting. This shift in sentiment brought more first-home buyers back into the market alongside seasoned investors executing long-term investment strategies.

A Big Shift in Buyer Behaviour: Pre-Approvals

One interesting trend Arjun highlighted was how buyers approached finance.

Instead of waiting for pre-approval before doing anything, more buyers now:

• Start conversations with buyer’s agents and brokers early
  
• Research markets and strategies first
  
• Finalise finance closer to the purchase stage
  

With pre-approvals expiring every 90 days, buyers are realising it’s often more efficient to line things up in parallel, not sequentially.

Price First, Location Second: How Smart Buyers Are Thinking

One of the strongest themes from the episode was this:

The best investors lead with price point, not postcode.

Rather than saying, “I want to buy in X suburb,” high-performing investors ask:

“Here’s my budget. Where should I buy to hit my goal?”

This removes emotional bias and allows decisions to be driven by data, market dynamics, and growth cycles, not familiarity or comfort.

It’s also why strategies like rentvesting continue to grow, living where you love, while investing where the numbers make sense.

How Long Does It Take to Buy with a Buyer’s Agent?

On average:

• 2–4 months is typical
  
• Sometimes up to 3–5 months depending on conditions
  

That’s still significantly faster than the average Australian buyer, who often spends six months or more, refreshes pre-approvals, and misses multiple opportunities.

Speed matters in recovering markets, but so does discipline.

Auctions, Negotiation & Market Reality

Auctions remain dominant in cities like Sydney and Melbourne, but across most investor-focused markets they still represent a small share of transactions.

Looking ahead to 2026, auction activity is expected to rise as competition increases in recovering cities.

When it comes to negotiation tactics, Arjun made an important distinction:

• In early-cycle markets, negotiation power is stronger
  
• In hot markets, the goal isn’t “getting a bargain”, it’s avoiding overpaying
  

Sometimes the win isn’t a discount. It’s securing the right asset without emotional overshooting.

Why Buyers Missed Out in 2025

The biggest reason buyers missed opportunities?

Trying to tick every box.

Perfect block.
Perfect layout.
Perfect condition.
Perfect price.

In a rising market, perfection is expensive, and often unrealistic.

Buyers who refused to adjust expectations often either:

• Missed out repeatedly, or
  
• Settled for lower-performing assets that felt comfortable but didn’t deliver results
  

Successful investors focused on enough boxes, not all of them.

Client Success Stories That Mattered

Some of the most powerful moments from 2025 weren’t headline numbers, they were client outcomes.

Properties purchased in Townsville and Rockhampton in 2023–24 saw over 40% growth in under two years.
Others bought in slower markets like Bendigo and Albury-Wodonga performed exactly as forecast, flat first, then strong recovery in 2025.

That’s the power of cycle-aware investing and long-term thinking.

The One Stat to Watch in 2026

Arjun’s pick for 2026?

Middle-ring price points.

After years where affordable markets led growth, the next wave is likely to come from:

• $750k–$1m in affordable capitals
  
• $1.3m+ middle-ring suburbs in premium cities
  

These markets haven’t had much love recently, and that’s often where opportunity emerges next.

Final Advice for 2026 Buyers

Don’t obsess over interest rate predictions.

Rates will move. Headlines will scream. Forecasts will change.

What matters more is:

• Can you afford the property?
  
• Do you have buffers?
  
• Are you buying in a growth market with solid fundamentals?
  

History shows that property growth happens across different rate environments. Waiting for “perfect conditions” often means missing the cycle entirely.

2025 wasn’t about hype.
It was about recovery, data, and discipline.

If 2026 is the year you want to move, the smartest step you can take is getting clear on your strategy early, before competition tightens and prices move again.

Because the best time to plan isn’t when everyone else is panicking.
It’s when the market is quietly setting up its next chapter.

Need financial advice? Check out a range of our experts who can help you! 

Plus, a huge shoutout to our sponsor, InvestorKit! Australia’s #1 Buyers Agency for 2023 and 2024. They specialise in helping investors find high-growth properties utilising industry leading AI and data driven research process across Australia. 70%+ of the properties they purchase are off-market and they have consistently outperformed national average capital growth rates by over 49%. Whether you’re looking to build your property portfolio or secure your first investment. Check them out here.