As Victorian buyer sentiment drops to Australia’s lowest

Victoria will lose its crown as Australian action capital and lose it to New South Wales.

Melbourne and Environmental Corporation have been the country’s auction-action type for many years, occupying the amount of property under the hammer every week.

But NSW has beaten the Education State several times since its start in 2025.

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In January, a three-week period, the Sydney Opera House’s hometown held an auction more than its southern counterparts included a week, with Sydney in Melbourne having more than 100 auctions.

However, Victoria won’t back down without a fight, as experts predict that despite fewer auction plans in the coming weeks than NSW, the state will win to maintain its auction title.

Realestate.com.au’s research arm Proptrack is expected to hold 509 auctions in Melbourne and after this week, with 518 auctions in and around Sydney.

Next week, 833 homes will be under a Victoria hammer and 840 under a hammer in New South Wales.

863 Victorian auctions and 884 are expected in the hometown of the Sydney Opera House.

Proptrack senior economist Anne Flaherty said the numbers point to sellers in New South Wales are more intense than Victoria.

“It’s a little surprising because we usually see Victoria as the auction capital of the country,” Ms Flaherty said.

In October, PropTrack Research found that Victoria’s sellers were the weakest sentiment, with only 14% of property owners deeming this a good time to sell – possibly due to poor performance of lessor prices in 2024.

“I think we can see that we start turning back later this year, but seller sentiment will certainly be stronger elsewhere than the rest of the country,” he said.

Ms. Flaherty said.

Median home prices in Melbourne, including homes, units and apartments, rose 0.2 per cent in March to $778,000 after hitting $774,000 in February.

Adrian Butera, director of the Victorian Real Estate Institute, also managing director of Compton Green in the inner west of Melbourne, said that like the AFL, the auctions performed well in Australia, but remained a Victorian agency.

“I don’t think a weekend is enough to lose or take the crown, we’ll let them have it for a week,” Mr Butera said.

“Victoria will continue to stick to the auction title, and there is no doubt in my mind.”

He noted that interstate interest in Victorian homes, including buyers’ advocates, is rising.

“Any suburb with neutral home prices below $1 million will make investors and buyers active,” he said.

“For example, a rich man or a house at the foot of the west, there aren’t many, but they’re there – you show this to Sydney buyers, which is incredibly good value.”

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