InfoTrack’s Q2 Property Market Update, covering 1 April to 30 June 2026, tells two seemingly different stories depending on which state you look at. New South Wales recorded a 7.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in sales volume, while Queensland saw house sales fall by 38.9 per cent over the same period. Read in isolation, those figures suggest opposite trajectories. Read together, they point to the same underlying force, buyers across both states are being highly deliberate about where they transact, weighing affordability, infrastructure and housing supply before they commit. This update looks at what moved in New South Wales and Queensland this quarter, and what that concentration of activity means for practitioners advising clients on either side of a transaction.

Is the NSW property market growing in 2026?

NSW property transactions rose 7.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q2, with houses accounting for 67.4 per cent of all sales, up from 66.8 per cent in Q1. The most notable shift was at the top of the overall sales rankings, where Dubbo overtook Port Macquarie for the number one spot, following a 24.2 per cent increase in purchases driven largely by a 32.6 per cent jump in house sales. Dubbo has now featured in the state’s top 10 for three consecutive quarters, a run that points to sustained demand rather than a single strong month. Its economy spans healthcare, education, agriculture, mining and renewable energy, and the North-West Urban Release Area is expected to deliver around 5,500 homes over the next 20 years, giving the market a genuine supply pipeline to support continued activity.

The top 10 for overall sales stayed remarkably settled this quarter, with the same ten suburbs appearing in both Q1 and Q2, split between regional centres such as Dubbo, Port Macquarie, Orange and Armidale, and Western Sydney growth corridors including Austral, Box Hill, Parramatta, Castle Hill, Blacktown and Rouse Hill.

First home buyer activity told its own version of the affordability story. Strata title accounted for 76.7 per cent of first home buyer purchases in Q2, up from 74.2 per cent in Q1, while houses slipped to 21.7 per cent of purchases. Parramatta held the top spot for first home buyers into a second consecutive quarter, supported by transport connectivity and a growing apartment supply, while Fairfield moved straight into second place on the back of a 130 per cent rise in sales, a 630-million-dollar hospital redevelopment and a new 50-million-dollar venue nearby. Orange climbed from fifth to third, with its median purchase price rising 8.9 per cent to 728,000 dollars, and Ryde moved from seventh to fourth as new medium and high-density apartment developments near Macquarie Park replaced ageing 1960s and 1970s housing stock.

Is the Queensland property market slowing down in 2026?

Queensland’s headline number looks very different. House sales fell 38.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter, units fell 37.8 per cent and vacant land fell 36.5 per cent. A quieter winter selling period and three cash rate increases through the year both weighed on overall borrowing capacity and buyer activity. What the data shows underneath that fall, however, is a market where demand has consolidated into a smaller number of well-connected corridors rather than pulled back evenly across the state.

Moreton Bay and Ipswich dominated the house sales rankings, with Morayfield taking the top spot after rising from sixth place, alongside Springfield Lakes, Caboolture, Redbank Plains and Burpengary. Narangba, Carina and Burdell were new entrants to the top 10 this quarter. Burdell, in Townsville, stood out as the only suburb in Queensland’s top 10 to record growth against the statewide fall, with sales up 10.5 per cent. That growth is tied directly to the North Shore estate, which has delivered around 2,600 of a planned 5,600 homes, and 60 per cent of Burdell’s Q2 sales landed in the $700,000 to $800,000 dollar band, up from 26 per cent in Q1.

The unit market showed a similar pattern of concentration. The Gold Coast held six of the top 10 suburbs for unit sales, including the top five outright, with Surfers Paradise at number one and Broadbeach the biggest mover, climbing from ninth to second. Robina and Coomera entered the unit rankings for the first time this year, with Robina’s arrival linked to the new Lakeside Robina development. On the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore remained the sole representative in the unit top 10, while Buderim was the only Sunshine Coast suburb to feature in the house rankings, appealing to buyers prioritising established character housing, school catchments and larger blocks a short drive from the coast.

What does this mean for practitioners?

Across both states, the same pattern emerges in different forms. Buyers are not disappearing from the market, they are being more selective about where they transact, and that selectivity tends to follow a combination of affordability, infrastructure investment and active housing supply. For property lawyers and conveyancers, this points to continued transaction volume in specific growth corridors and regional centres, even where statewide figures suggest a slowdown, and it reinforces the value of anchoring client conversations in suburb-level data rather than headline state numbers alone.

Explore our Property Market Update for the full report.

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