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Property Market News

A guide published by Dotto

Australia’s property market, as the official releases measure it

Property Market News is a guide to the national official measures of Australia’s housing market and how to read them, written and published by Dotto.

One figure, two dates

$12,688.9 billion

The total value of Australia’s residential dwellings

Period measured
June quarter 2026
Released
8 September 2026

Every official housing figure carries two dates: the period it measures and the day it was published. The figure in the slip at the top of this page describes the three months to June 2026, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics released it on 8 September 2026. Reading the market starts with keeping the two apart.

These pages read five national measures, four current and one that has ended, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Reserve Bank of Australia. Each figure is stated as at the release it came from, and none is carried forward into a forecast.

Looking straight down on two rows of new grey-roofed houses with small back yards, long morning shadows across the streets
Two rows of houses, seen from directly above. Photo by PublicCo on Pixabay.

Five measures on one calendar

Each line shows the latest period measured as a bar on the 2026 calendar, the day it was published as a solid diamond, and the next release the publisher lists as a hollow one. The cash rate line marks the decisions that took effect in 2026.

  1. Total value of dwellingsABS, quarterly. Period June quarter 2026 · released 8 September 2026 · next 1 December 2026
  2. Building approvalsABS, monthly. Period August 2026 · released 30 September 2026 · next 2 November 2026
  3. Lending indicatorsABS, quarterly. Period June quarter 2026 · released 14 August 2026 · next 11 November 2026
  4. Cash rate targetReserve Bank, eight meetings a year. Decision read here 29 September 2026 · in effect 30 September 2026
  5. Residential property price indexesABS, quarterly until it ceased. Last period December quarter 2021 · released 15 March 2022 · next ceased

The fifth line is empty on purpose. The ABS Residential Property Price Indexes ceased with the December quarter 2021 issue, so any figure from them is history, whatever date it is quoted on.

Five words that change what a figure means

Preliminary
An estimate the ABS does not yet consider complete, and expects to revise. Every Total Value of Dwellings estimate for the current quarter is preliminary.
Final
An estimate the ABS considers complete, revised only in exceptional circumstances. For the total value of dwellings, that happens at the third most recent quarter.
Seasonally adjusted
A series with the estimated effects of season and calendar removed, so that other influences show more clearly.
Trend
In the ABS’s words, an estimate that “indicates the medium to long direction of a time series.”
Ceased
A series that is no longer published. The ABS’s final residential property price index issue lists its next release as ceased.

The five guides

  1. The total value of dwellingsOne quarterly figure for every home in Australia, the mean price inside it, and why the newest quarter is preliminary.
  2. Building approvals, month by monthWhat counts as an approval, and why the seasonally adjusted and trend series can point opposite ways.
  3. New home loans in the lending indicatorsOwner occupiers, investors and first home buyers, and what a gap between number and value tells you.
  4. The cash rate, and how a decision is publishedThe Reserve Bank’s meeting, the 2.30 pm statement, the day after, and the 2026 decisions as recorded.
  5. The price indexes that ended in 2021The ABS Residential Property Price Indexes ceased with the December quarter 2021 issue. Their last figures, read as history.

Where the figures come from

Every figure here is taken from a release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Reserve Bank of Australia. Each page lists its sources at the foot, with the date they were checked. When a publisher puts out a newer release, its figures replace the ones here.