In February 2025, the Australian city of Brisbane had a residential rental property vacancy rate of one percent. In February 2017, Brisbane's residential rental property vacancy rate peaked at 3.7 percent.

In the first quarter of 2021, the vacancy rate of prime office real estate in Brisbane CBD was 12 percent. The vacancy rate had been decreasing for the most part until the end of 2019. However, the recent COVID-19 outbreak seemed to have led to a decline in office leasing enquiries, and therefore an increase in the vacancy rate in 2020 and 2021.

In the second half of 2024, the industrial property vacancy rate in Melbourne was the highest across Australia, with a rate of around 3.6 percent. The lowest vacancy rate of industrial properties was in Perth, where a rate of 1.4 percent was recorded.

As of May 2021, hotel occupancy rates in Brisbane, Australia were at around 86 percent of the levels seen in May 2019. A pronounced decline in the amount of international travelers due to the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the recovery in the hotel industry.

In the third quarter of 2024, the house price-to-rent ratio in Australia was estimated at 130.4, marking a decrease from the same quarter of the previous year. An indicator of how strong the property market is, the house price-to-rent ratio was calculated by dividing nominal house prices by rent price indices. After reaching a peak in 2017, the price-to-rent ratio decreased each quarter until the third quarter of 2019. From then on, the house price-to-rent ratio continued to increase, reaching a high in the first quarter of 2022. Since the second quarter of 2022, the house price-to-rent ratio has started to trend downward. Is Australia in a property bubble? Many industry experts believe the country is in a property bubble, indicated by the rapid increase in Australian property market prices to the point that they are no longer relative to incomes and rents, followed by a decline. The house price-to-income ratio has been on an upward trend over the past two years, hitting 122.1 in the third quarter of 2024. Rental property demand In December 2024, the rental vacancy rate, which indicates how many properties are available for rent out of all the rental stock, was relatively high in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney. That year, the average weekly rent prices varied across the country depending on the city, with the highest average weekly rents for houses and units in Sydney and Canberra. Hobart, on the other hand, had the most affordable rental properties across Australia's capital cities.

In 2024, Airbnbs in Perth, Western Australia, had the highest average occupancy rates across the Australian cities and regions represented, with an average occupancy of around 84 percent. Airbnbs in Brisbane and Sydney had the next highest occupancy rates that year.

In the year ending December 2019, hotel occupancy rates for the city of Sydney in Australia were a 82.5% occupancy. The Darwin area and Brisbane were among the cities with the lowest occupancy rates, with the Darwin area holding just over 50% occupancy over the year.

Sydney had the highest median house value compared to other capital cities in Australia as of December 2024, with a value of over 1.47 million Australian dollars. Brisbane similarly had relatively high average residential housing values, passing Canberra and Melbourne to top the pricing markets for real estate across the country alongside Sydney. Housing affordability in Australia Throughout 2024, the average price of residential dwellings recovered across Australia, with most capital cities breaking price records despite interest rate hikes. Rising house prices continue to be an issue for potential homeowners, with many low and middle-income earners priced out of the market. In the third quarter of 2024, Australia’s house price-to-income ratio reached new heights at 122.1 index points. With the share of household income spent on mortgage repayments increasing alongside the disparity in supply and demand, inflating construction costs, and low borrowing capacity, the homeownership dream has become an unattainable prospect for the average person in Australia. Does the rental market offer better prospects? Renting for prolonged periods has become inevitable for many Australians due to the country’s largely inaccessible property ladder. However, record low vacancy rates and rising median weekly house and unit rent prices within Australia’s rental market are making renting a less appealing prospect. In financial year 2024, households in the Greater Sydney metropolitan area reported spending around 30 percent of their household income on rent.