32% Brisbane Clearance Before 4.6% Rate Hike

Brisbane went into the Reserve Bank’s 4.6% cash-rate decision with a preliminary clearance rate of just 32%—half its 64% a year ago. The message is not “don’t buy”; it is that pricing gaps and borrowing costs demand better evidence. • Across five capitals, 588 properties sold from 1,236 reported: 47.6% preliminary. • Brisbane passed in 59% of everything reported, the highest of the five capitals. • Sydney and Melbourne both cleared 50%, but Sydney had 755 reported results while Melbourne had 210. • The Gold Coast system-watch suburb showed a 9.45% yield and 5% vacancy; Corowa showed 5.24% and 2.2%. Use the clearance table, yield, vacancy and owner-occupier depth to test the asset—not just the headline. Download the free Top Five Markets Report: https://ripe.house/brief-ratehike General information only, not personal financial advice.

The Reserve Bank has lifted the cash rate to 4.6 per cent, the highest level in 15 years. Brisbane walked into that decision clearing just 32 per cent of reported results last week, half its 64 of a year ago, when buyers expect dearer money bidding thins out before the decision lands. And our two top suburbs today pull in opposite directions. To start with the anchor, ABCnewsandrealestate.com.au reported yesterday's move to 4.6 per cent, the fourth rise of 2026. The Reserve Bank's own F1 table last reads 4.35 per cent on 28 September, the rate going in. So the clearance numbers ahead are the market before the hike. Across the five capitals, 588 properties sold from 1,236 reported. That's 47.6 per cent on our own aggregation, and it's preliminary. On domains, preliminary figures, every capital cleared less than a year ago, Sydney 50 per cent down from 70, Melbourne 50 down from 71, Canberra 48 down from 62, Adelaide 38 down from 48, and Brisbane 32 down from 64, the steepest fall at 32 points of Brisbane's 113 reported results, 36 sold and 67 passed in. That's a pricing gap, not a verdict on the assets. The outcomes show why one percentage is never enough. Sydney withdrew 227 properties, about 30 per cent of its reported results, and passed in 148, roughly one in five. Brisbane withdrew just 10, yet passed in 59 per cent of everything reported, the highest of the five. Adelaide passed in 51 per cent. In Sydney, many sellers stepped back early. In Brisbane and Adelaide, sellers turned up and met a thin room. Two new suburbs today at the 100th and 99th percentiles nationally in the August snapshot. First, the suburb on screen now in the city of Gold Coast. The rolling yield is 9.45 per cent, vacancy 5 per cent, and 90.1 per cent of homes are owner-occupied, but depth is thin, 15 sales in 12 months from $440,000 to $3.5 million, a headline yield that high deserves checking property by property. Second, Corowa in New South Wales' Federation Council area. Yield 5.24 per cent, vacancy just 2.2 under half the Gold Coast suburbs, and 73.1 per cent owner-occupied, with 75 sales giving real depth. One pays the bigger yield, the other has the tighter rental market. Four map layers tell the street story, sold price, rental yield, owner-occupier depth, and social housing. Our Gold Coast suburb has 761 addresses across 36 streets at a 90-day rolling sold price of $1.43 million. Corowa has 4,719 addresses across 131 streets at $476,000. Social housing is low in both, none recorded on the Gold Coast, just under 1 per cent in Corowa. The map is the prompt to check the exact street. The price gap matters too. The Gold Coast suburb's rolling sold price is about three times Corowa's. Over the past year, its mean sale was $1.74 million, Corowa's $480,000. These are not like-for-like homes, but after a rate rise, the entry price decides how much new debt a buyer carries, which is why yield and vacancy matter more than a sold price headline. A caution on the clearance board, Sydney and Melbourne both cleared 50 per cent, but Sydney on 755 reported results, Melbourne on only 210, Canberra's 48 per cent came from just 84, sample size matters as much as the rate. The story everyone's leading with is the hike itself, which ABC calls the highest level in 15 years. A separate ABC analysis argues the Reserve Bank had no choice as America's currency crown slips. Closer to the ground, realestate.com.au reports experts warning that Victoria's new reserve price rule is p