APRIQ Big Picture — August 2026

Month in one minute

The Big Picture leads with market developments, not APRIQ ingestion activity. These are the highest-materiality verified developments captured for the month.

• “Although we’re currently below the late 2023 peak of 4.3 per cent, annual wage growth remains above the 2.2 per cent that we were seeing in the December quarter 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.“. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Trimmed mean annual inflation remained steady at 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to July, unchanged from the 12 months to June 2026. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Jobs with a wage change of less than 4 per cent over the last 12 months rose to 79 per cent, from 75 per cent in June quarter 2025. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.5 per cent in the 12 months to July 2026, down from 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to June, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Annual inflation for Food and non-alcoholic beverages was 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to July. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Growth in average weekly earnings for full-time adults for the six months to May 2026 was 1.6 per cent. Sources: abs-media-releases.

Evidence coverage and method

The strongest evidence flows during the month were:

• dwellings approved — 87,372 observations from abs-building-approvals-sa2-2024-25.
• dwellings approved — 87,372 observations from abs-building-approvals-sa2-2025-26.
• dwellings approved — 6,120 observations from abs-building-approvals-lga-2024-25.
• dwellings approved — 6,120 observations from abs-building-approvals-lga-2025-26.
• median weekly rent — 5,281 observations from nsw-dcj-rent-tables.
• rent first quartile — 5,281 observations from nsw-dcj-rent-tables.
• rent third quartile — 5,281 observations from nsw-dcj-rent-tables.
• total bonds held — 5,280 observations from nsw-dcj-rent-tables.
• median weekly rent — 2,965 observations from qld-rta-bond-statistics.
• median sale price — 2,519 observations from qgso-rlda-dwelling-sales.
• median sale price — 1,320 observations from nsw-dcj-sales-tables.
• sale price first quartile — 1,320 observations from nsw-dcj-sales-tables.
• sale price third quartile — 1,320 observations from nsw-dcj-sales-tables.
• median sale price — 373 observations from sa-metro-median-house-sales.
• median weekly rent — 372 observations from tas-rental-bond-data.
• gross rental yield — 356 observations from sa-metro-median-house-sales.

How to read this

This historical Big Picture edition is reconstructed from dated APRIQ evidence. Future monthly editions combine the same internal scan with the live Newsroom primary-source engine.

Major developments

Verified developments that materially affected the property system during the month:

• “Although we’re currently below the late 2023 peak of 4.3 per cent, annual wage growth remains above the 2.2 per cent that we were seeing in the December quarter 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.“. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Trimmed mean annual inflation remained steady at 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to July, unchanged from the 12 months to June 2026. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Jobs with a wage change of less than 4 per cent over the last 12 months rose to 79 per cent, from 75 per cent in June quarter 2025. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.5 per cent in the 12 months to July 2026, down from 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to June, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Annual inflation for Food and non-alcoholic beverages was 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to July. Sources: abs-media-releases.
• Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Growth in average weekly earnings for full-time adults for the six months to May 2026 was 1.6 per cent. Sources: abs-media-releases.

Market Forces — demand, supply and market response

No retained Market Forces driver change with a qualifying known-at date is available for this month yet. This is an evidence-coverage statement, not a claim that market forces were unchanged.