Brisbane vs Melbourne for Property Investors: What Ten Years of Capital Growth Shows

Over the ten years to June 2026, Brisbane’s median established house price rose about 133%, from $495,000 to $1,155,000, while Melbourne’s rose about 39%, from $610,000 to $850,000, on ABS sales data. Brisbane passed Melbourne in the March quarter of 2024. Past growth does not tell you what either city will do next.

That is the short version of a question we are asked every week. The longer version matters more, because the same data that shows Brisbane’s run also shows why the two cities are now different purchases: different prices, different holding costs and a different pool of buyers. If you are weighing them for a real purchase, our Brisbane buyers agent service and Melbourne buyers agent service pages explain how we buy in each.

Everything below comes from primary sources, dated. We do not publish forecasts.

The numbers side by side

Sources: ABS, Total Value of Dwellings, June Quarter 2026 (released 8 September 2026, Table 2, Greater Capital City medians); ABS, Regional population, 2024-25 (released 31 March 2026). Percentages are our calculations from the ABS figures.

What these figures are, and are not

They are the median price of the established houses (or attached dwellings) that changed hands in each city in that quarter. That is the most direct primary measure available since the ABS stopped publishing its capital city price indexes in 2021. Two cautions:

• A median moves when the mix moves. If a quarter has more sales in expensive suburbs, the median rises even if no individual home gained value. Over ten years that noise mostly washes out; quarter to quarter it does not.
• The latest quarter is preliminary. The ABS revises recent quarters as more transfers are recorded.

When did Brisbane’s median house price overtake Melbourne’s?

In the March quarter of 2024, on ABS data: Brisbane’s median established house sale was $850,000 against Melbourne’s $845,000. Brisbane’s had been below Melbourne’s in every quarter from 2016 to the end of 2023. The gap has widened since, to $305,000 in the June quarter of 2026.

Attached dwellings crossed later, in the September quarter of 2024 ($630,000 against $620,000). By June 2026, Brisbane’s median unit or townhouse sale was $830,100 and Melbourne’s $590,000.

What sat behind Brisbane’s capital growth?

We can show what changed alongside it, not prove what caused it.

People moving in from other states. In 2024-25, Greater Brisbane gained 11,100 people from the rest of Australia while Greater Melbourne lost 8,600. Both cities grew by about 2% overall, mostly from overseas migration, but Brisbane was the one gaining Australians who were already here, often buyers.

A starting point below its neighbours. In 2016 a Brisbane house cost about 81% of a Melbourne house on these medians. That relative cheapness has now reversed.

Rents rising alongside prices. In the Brisbane City Council area, the median weekly rent for a new lease on a three-bedroom house was $720 in the June quarter of 2026, up from $675 a year earlier, on Residential Tenancies Authority bond data. Melbourne’s equivalent comes from the Homes Victoria Rental Report, which is measured differently, so the two are not set side by side here. We are not quoting city yields, because dividing a citywide median rent by a citywide median price gives a number that does not describe any property you could buy.

Why has Melbourne gone sideways?

Again, what the data shows rather than a story. Melbourne’s median house sale was $830,000 in June 2021 and $850,000 in June 2026: five years, roughly flat in dollars. Its attached dwelling median fell. Over the same period Melbourne kept growing in people, but net internal migration ran the other way.

Holding costs changed too. From the 2024 land tax year, Victoria’s COVID Debt Repayment Plan changed land tax rates and thresholds: landholdings from $50,000 of taxable value attract a flat charge, with a larger charge plus a 0.1 percentage point rate increase from $300,000, legislated until 30 June 2033 (State Revenue Office Victoria). That changes the arithmetic of holding a Melbourne investment. We have not seen primary data that measures how much it moved prices, so we do not claim it did.

How do holding costs compare?

Sources: Queensland Revenue Office; State Revenue Office Victoria.

Thresholds apply to land value, not purchase price, and to everything you own in that state combined. Your accountant should model your own position. House Finder does not give tax advice.

So, Brisbane or Melbourne?

The honest answer is that the decision has changed since 2016, and anyone selling you Brisbane on the last ten years is selling you a rear-view mirror.

Brisbane today is a more expensive city than Melbourne for houses, with a decade of strong growth behind it, rising new-lease rents, and population gains from interstate. The case for buying there rests on whether those conditions hold, at today’s prices, not 2016’s. Our Brisbane off-market guide covers how we buy there.

Melbourne today has the larger market, about 1.7 times Brisbane’s house sales in the June quarter of 2026, which means more choice and more evidence for pricing. Its prices have been flat for five years and its holding costs for investors rose from 2024. The case for buying there rests on price relative to income and rent, and on your land tax position. Our Melbourne suburbs guide goes street by street.

In both cities, the suburb and the property matter more than the city. Two houses a kilometre apart can have had very different decades. More on how we assess a suburb.

Property values can fall as well as rise, in either city.

And Adelaide?

Adelaide is the third city investors put on this list. On the same ABS series, Adelaide’s median established house sale went from $440,000 in the June quarter of 2016 to $975,000 in the June quarter of 2026, up about 122%, and up about 77% over five years from $550,000. Greater Adelaide’s population grew 18,600 (1.3%) in 2024-25, with overseas migration positive and net internal migration negative (2,400 lost).

The practical difference is liquidity. Adelaide recorded 4,270 established house sales in the June quarter of 2026, against 6,559 in Brisbane and 11,414 in Melbourne. Fewer sales means fewer properties to choose from, thinner comparable evidence, and more weight on being the first call when a suitable property comes up, which is where agent relationships and off-market channels earn their keep. See buying in Adelaide.

Talk it through

If you are choosing between cities, the useful conversation is about your numbers, not the cities’ headlines. Book a strategy call and we will tell you which city, if either, fits your brief, and why.

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About the author. Simon Loo founded House Finder, a buyers agency acting for property investors only. Simon was named Buyers Agent of the Year, Residential Investment, at the Australian Buyers Agent Awards 2026. Figures are from the sources named, as at their release dates. This article is general information, not financial, credit or tax advice, and it is not a forecast.

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FAQ

Has Brisbane had more capital growth than Melbourne?
Yes, over the last decade. On ABS data, Brisbane’s median established house sale rose about 133% from the June quarter of 2016 to the June quarter of 2026, to $1,155,000. Melbourne’s rose about 39%, to $850,000. Over the last five years Brisbane rose about 83% and Melbourne about 2%.

When did Brisbane house prices overtake Melbourne?
On ABS median sale prices for established houses, Brisbane passed Melbourne in the March quarter of 2024, at $850,000 against $845,000. For units and townhouses, Brisbane passed Melbourne in the September quarter of 2024.

Is Melbourne now cheaper than Brisbane?
On median sale prices, yes. In the June quarter of 2026 the median established house sale was $850,000 in Melbourne and $1,155,000 in Brisbane, and the median attached dwelling sale was $590,000 in Melbourne and $830,100 in Brisbane, according to the ABS. These are preliminary figures and medians, not valuations.

Why has Brisbane grown faster than Melbourne?
The data shows Brisbane gaining people from other states (11,100 in 2024-25) while Melbourne lost 8,600, starting from lower prices in 2016, and rising rents. Victoria also changed land tax rates and thresholds for investors from 2024. These factors moved together with prices; the data does not prove which caused what.

Will Brisbane prices keep growing?
Nobody can tell you that reliably, and House Finder does not publish price forecasts. Past growth does not predict future growth, and property values can fall. A sound purchase is one that still works on rent, holding costs and price evidence if prices go sideways.

Is Brisbane or Melbourne better for property investment?
It depends on the property, your budget, your land tax position and how long you will hold, more than on the city. Brisbane now costs more for houses after a decade of growth; Melbourne is the larger, cheaper market with higher investor land tax. Speak to your accountant about tax before deciding.