Australia's housing market cools as interest rates bite, but affordability remains elusive

Australia's property market has entered a rare corrective phase, with most capital cities recording price declines for the first time in years — a shift shaped by rising interest rates and the unwinding of tax settings that long favoured investors. Sydney leads the retreat, though the correction remains uneven, sparing more affordable regions and entry-level homes. The deeper irony is that falling prices have not made homes more reachable: the same interest rates pulling values down are also shrinking what buyers can borrow, leaving the affordability crisis that has defined Australian housing