Hot property in Australia’s prestige residential market - CBRE

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Mar 14, 2025

Hot property in Australia’s prestige residential market - CBRE

Houses and apartments valued up to $10 million are seeing the strongest demand in Australia’s luxury residential market with local buyers the most active, said CBRE’s Head of Prestige Valuations NSW Bader Naaman and VIC, John Beresford.

CBRE

L-R: CBRE’s Head of Prestige Valuations NSW Bader Naaman and CBRE’s Head of Prestige Valuations VIC, John Beresford

Houses and apartments valued up to $10 million are seeing the strongest demand in Australia’s luxury residential market with local buyers the most active, new CBRE research has found.

CBRE’s Prestige Residential Valuer Insights Q1 2025 surveyed valuers from across Australia who specialise in high-end residential properties.

Compared to the previous survey (Q3 2024), overall demand in the prestige market has moderated. About half of the valuers surveyed reported ‘moderate’ demand (53%) while ‘soft’ or ‘very limited’ demand was reported by 33% of valuers, up from 9% in the previous survey. Only 14% of valuers said they were seeing ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’ demand in their markets. Demand was strongest in SA, NSW and QLD.

CBRE’s Head of Prestige Valuations NSW Bader Naaman noted the prestige residential market was strong and continued to outperform the broader residential market.

“When you look at the biggest home sales in 2024, 18 of the top 20 transactions were for prestige homes in NSW. Strong demand from high-net-worth individuals, both domestically and internationally, together with limited prestige stock and a lower Australian dollar are expected to drive the prestige market throughout 2025 for both local and offshore buyers with stronger performance expected.”

Local purchasers were the most active buyer type in the prestige market and were most prevalent in SA and WA. Upgraders and overseas purchasers were also active while down-sizer activity slowed with only 24% of valuers reporting them as active compared to 40% in the previous survey.

Growth expectations for prestige homes are relatively stable with 43% of valuers saying they expect values to grow in the next 12 months, down slightly from 54% in the previous survey. The highest growth is expected in SA, NSW and VIC.

CBRE’s Head of Prestige Valuations VIC, John Beresford noted there were several significant luxury residential property transactions in the state, despite high degrees of market segmentation.

“In 2024 and leading into 2025 there were clearly some areas and some property types that performed better than others,” he said.

“Notwithstanding, the council region of Stonnington, which includes Toorak and South Yarra, experienced a flurry of transactions across the traditionally strong spring period. This included several transactions in the $19 to $22 million range and a sale in the $60 to $70 million range in Toorak, as well as two $20 million plus transactions in South Yarra. In addition to this, the sale of ‘Coonac’ in Clendon Road Toorak set a new house price record for Victoria, with the transaction reported to be in excess of $100 million,” Mr Beresford added.

Expectations for apartment values have remained steady with 43% of valuers forecasting an increase in values over the next 12 months. WA, QLD and NSW are expected to see the highest growth.

Looking ahead, 43% of valuers expect demand to increase in their local prestige markets over the next 12 months, this is a jump from 31% in the previous survey. However, 45% of valuers expect demand to remain the same. More valuers in NSW (68%) and VIC (64%) expect to see an increase in demand than in other states. Softer demand is expected in QLD while demand in SA and WA is expected to remain stable.

Supply expectations are unchanged from the previous survey with 61% of prestige valuers expecting increased supply over the next 12 months. All ACT valuers surveyed expect listings to increase, 73% in VIC, and 63% in NSW. In contrast, 100% of SA valuers expect supply to remain the same.