Pete Wargent Daily Blog: September 2026

Tuesday, 1 September 2026

Building approvals, solid in Bris & Perth

Approvals down

Building approvals fell -3.6 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 17,687 in July.

House approvals were solid in Perth and Brisbane, and pretty steady elsewhere.

The one bright spot for attached dwelling approvals remains south-east Queensland.

Sydney looks set for an acute housing shortage as this cycle progresses, especially given insolvencies in the development sector.

Overall, this was a solid result, though whether all of the approvals turn into actual dwelling completions is a different story.

Over the past year, around 205,000 dwellings have been approved.

Since the introduction of the Housing Accord, building approvals are running about 20 per cent below the government's implied target of 20,000 per month.

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In other news, Cotality reported housing prices as down by -0.9 per cent in August.

Source: Cotality

The largest declines have generally been seen in the higher price points, with houses in Sydney seeing a year-to-date decline of -7.7 per cent, and houses in Melbourne down -7.5 per cent.

Cotality reported that new listings are running -8.2 per cent below the 5-year average, with new listings in Sydney -14 per cent below average.

Rents continued to rise, up by 0.4 per cent over the month and by 5.7 per cent over the year to August (and 39 per cent over the past 5 years).

You can read the full Cotality report here.

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Is spring really a buyer’s market? Rents, listings and 40-year mortgages

False dawn?

Been staying the Cotswolds for a few days - very nice too, but good to be back on deck.

Here's what we discussed in the podcast this week:

"In this episode of Australian Property Podcast, Pete Wargent and Chris Bates unpack whether spring will bring genuine opportunity for buyers or just more noise in a fragile market. It is a practical check-in on prices, listings, rents and borrowing conditions heading into the busiest stretch of the year.

They look at why recent headlines about green shoots may be getting ahead of the data, what weak auction depth and softer sentiment are telling us, and why a true rebound may still depend on interest-rate relief rather than wishful thinking. The conversation also covers falling investor participation, why transaction volumes can drop harder than prices, and how the better properties in a suburb can hold up differently from the median numbers making the news.

Pete and Chris then dig into the policy side: negative gearing changes, rent pressure, slowing new-home sales, and the possibility that stretched supply gets even tighter if developers and investors keep stepping back. They also discuss sharper bank pricing, the early signs of a mortgage war, and why many borrowers should be reviewing their rate rather than waiting for the market to improve.

To finish, they answer listener questions on stamp duty, the real cost of trading property, and whether 40-year mortgages could become more common. That includes why longer loan terms may ease monthly repayments without fixing affordability, and how future schemes could change the way first home buyers enter the market."

Tune in here (or click on the image below):

You can also watch the YouTube version here:

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