Overview
- Domain’s new Matching Demand Report shows inner‑ring house search budgets are about $300,000 below median listing prices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
- Extremes include Sydney’s eastern suburbs‑north with a $2 million gap, Melbourne’s blue‑chip inner‑east near $1 million, Perth’s Cottesloe–Claremont above $1 million, and Canberra’s overall shortfall of $712,000.
- Price gaps narrow or flip further from city centres, with buyers in Melbourne’s middle and outer rings and many Perth suburbs searching at or above listing prices, while Sydney gaps persist across the urban gradient.
- Buyers are gravitating toward townhouses and units where prices more closely align with budgets, with unit searches generally matching or exceeding listings outside Sydney and Melbourne.
- The report compares buyer search medians with listing prices rather than final sale results, a distinction that matters in markets where many properties sell above their guides.