Is the luxury property market stalling?

HOUSES and units up in the residential market are struggling to shift, a survey of valuers suggests.

CBRE’s Prestige Residential Valuer Insights for 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.

Half of the valuers surveyed reported moderate demand and a third said it was soft or very limited.

Only 14% of valuers said they were seeing strong or very strong demand in their markets.

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 per cent of valuers reporting them as active compared to 40 per cent 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.

Expectations for apartment values remained steady with 43 per cent 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 per cent of valuers expect demand to increase in their local prestige markets over the next 12 months, which this is a jump from 31 per cent in the previous survey.