Welcome to our January market wrap. What we’re seeing on the ground remains clear: strong demand and ongoing undersupply continue to place upward pressure on quality property.

 “Australian home values rose by 0.8% in January according to Cotality’s Home Value Index.”

Yesterday’s RBA announcement confirmed a 0.25% rise, taking the cash rate to 3.85%. While the media will focus heavily on what this means for confidence and borrowing capacity, the bigger picture remains unchanged. Australia’s property market is still being driven by a structural imbalance: chronic undersupply at a time of strong demand. That did not disappear in January, and it won’t disappear in 2026. These longer-term fundamentals continue to point toward strong buyer activity and ongoing price pressure this year.

On the Sunshine Coast, stock has remained low and the market has been slow to kick into gear after the holidays. With inflation still elevated and rates now rising again, some buyers are taking a more cautious approach, but well-priced, well-located homes are still moving very quickly.

This year, Elise and I will continue working closely with clients to deliver the premium service we’re known for: securing the best property at the best possible price, backed by our in-house team of admin and research assistants.

We’re also proud to bring deeper market insight through our Brisbane office led by Nick and a team of buyers agents actively supporting buyers on the ground. Alongside that, Hugo and The Property Baron Invest team continue to purchase investment-grade assets across the country, giving us a unique view of the broader national property market.

Read their insights below, or book a call to chat with our team.

Brisbane Market Update – Nick Meredith

Brisbane continues to perform strongly as we head into 2026, with buyer demand remaining consistent and quality stock moving very fast. After the usual Christmas slowdown, the market has bounced back quickly, particularly in well-positioned family homes and lifestyle suburbs.

In the past couple of months we were able to help secure a number of purchases for clients, which has meant we’ve started January with strong momentum. Joel, Jack and I have also been working closely with several new clients who are ready to buy now, and we’re seeing confidence in the Brisbane market remain very steady.

Property Investing Insights – Hugo Fonseca 

From an investment perspective, the fundamentals remain strong: population growth continues to drive demand, rental conditions remain tight, and housing supply is still not keeping pace with what Australia needs.

For investors, this reinforces the importance of buying quality assets with long-term fundamentals, not chasing headlines. In 2026, strategy will matter more than ever. The right purchase, in the right location, with genuine scarcity, will continue to outperform.

This is especially true with the current interest rate climate we are in, as tightening credit supply and/or increased borrowing costs tend to impact areas with weak fundamentals the most. These are the areas that have a high Investor to Owner Occupier ratio (ie. those being hyped and positioned as ‘hotspots’ and ‘boomtowns’), but where it’s mostly investors buying, for short term growth and/or higher yield returns.

We’re also seeing many investors turn their attention to Victoria, again attracted by what appear to be clear bargains. However, a large part of that interest is based on the hope that growth will return soon. The reality is the factors that pushed thousands of investors out of Victoria over the past few years are still in play, including some of the most expensive regulatory and tax settings for property investors in the country. Unless those settings change, Victoria is likely to continue lagging other markets. 

There are several factors that need to be considered from an investment perspective, to identify the right areas with the right fundamentals – too many to list here. However, some interesting data points that we came across recently were around net internal migration (ie. population movement between states). This clearly shows an ongoing and clear momentum of positive net migration into Queensland (and early signs of some into Western Australia), whilst New South Wales and Victoria remain in a net negative position. Equally, lending data shows a strong uptick in QLD and WA of 10-13% (as well as SA), NSW trailing at 3-6% and VIC clearly lagging behind (actually negative 2% for Investors and +5% for Owner Occupiers)

This clearly shows the importance of in depth data research and expertise in the market, to help navigate the large number of variables and considerations required, to identify those strong fundamental areas (both current and up and coming).