RBA holds at 4.35%, SMSF residential gearing closes to new arrangements, and SRO DA-070 takes effect

The Reserve Bank held the cash rate at 4.35 per cent on 11 August 2026 in a unanimous decision, following three increases during 2026. The Board described policy as somewhat restrictive, said it could increase further if upside risks materialise, and noted that housing prices were falling in some capital cities and that new housing loans were declining noticeably.1

Melbourne's median dwelling value sits at $797,354 on the July 2026 index released 3 August, down 1.2 per cent for the month and 2.8 per cent for the year, with houses at $936,528 and units at $632,021. Cotality's chart pack of 14 August places Melbourne more than 5 per cent below its November 2025 peak of about $840,000, and a separate reading of the same daily index on 14 August was reported at 5.6 per cent below peak, so the figure moves with the date cited.235

Melbourne gross rental yields at July 2026: 4.0 per cent for dwellings, 5.1 per cent for units and 3.4 per cent for houses. That is the highest dwelling yield of the major capitals against Sydney 3.3 per cent, Brisbane 3.4 per cent, Adelaide 3.5 per cent and Perth 3.8 per cent. We observe that the unit figure, not the house figure, is the one that maps most closely to smaller format multi-tenant stock.24

Melbourne's preliminary auction clearance for the weekend of 15 August was 57 per cent on 570 scheduled auctions, with 399 reported and 227 sold, at roughly 70 per cent reporting. The median reported auction sale price was $852,000. The prior weekend was reported at 60.8 per cent.64

New investor loan commitments fell to 52,599 in the June quarter 2026, down 8.6 per cent by number and 10.2 per cent by value at $37.1 billion, in ABS data released 14 August. The Victorian average original investor loan size eased to $851,000 from $873,000 in December 2025. Feasibility work built on a lower rate assumption than the current target looks optimistic on this week's evidence.7

Vacancy and median rent readings for Melbourne diverge by source and by reference date, so we publish them separately rather than as a single number. REIV reports metropolitan vacancy at 2.7 per cent and a metropolitan median weekly house rent of $595, both for June 2026. The official Victorian bond lodgement series records a Melbourne median of $570 for the September quarter 2025, roughly eleven months old. Cotality's 14 August chart pack records national annual rental growth of 5.9 per cent against wage growth of 3.3 per cent. Readers should treat any single vacancy figure as source specific.8103

From 10 August 2026, a limited recourse borrowing arrangement entered into by a self managed super fund to acquire real property can only be used to acquire business real property. The restriction applies regardless of lender type, including related party loans, and the asset must be business real property at the time the arrangement is entered into and for the entire life of the arrangement. Grandfathering applies to arrangements entered into before 10 August 2026, including later maintenance or refinance of that same asset, and to binding contracts exchanged before 10 August even where settlement and the borrowing occur afterwards. Residential property that is not business real property can still be acquired using fund cash, but not geared under a new arrangement.11

Two baselines continue to frame the tax position rather than change this week. Ruling TR 2026/1, issued 20 May 2026, holds that renting out property, including through a sharing platform, does not of itself amount to carrying on a business, and that any rent or licence component is assessable. Separately, from 1 July 2027 negative gearing for residential property investments is limited to new builds, with properties held at 12 May 2026 exempt, and the 50 per cent capital gains discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced by cost base indexation plus a 30 per cent minimum tax rate on gains accruing after that date.1213

No Consumer Affairs Victoria news item was published between 9 and 16 August 2026. The most recent items sit just outside the window: a new framework to guide compliance action on 6 August, and Renting Taskforce inspections across the state reported on 31 July. The next tranche of Victorian rental law obligations is dated 13 October 2026: strengthened bond claim rules requiring advance notice and evidence, records showing minimum standards compliance when a property is advertised or offered, gas and electrical safety checks every two years, a gas check within six months before draughtproofing, and a ban on application fees. The rooming house fixed heater standard has applied since 1 December 2025, and new minimum energy efficiency standards phase in from 1 March 2027.1415

The NDIS released Supplement P for the fourth quarter of 2025-26 in mid August, with data as at 30 June 2026. Nationally it records 16,644 active participants with SDA in use, 9,014 SDA eligible participants not yet using SDA, annualised SDA supports in active plans of $684 million, and 14,235 enrolled dwellings. The supplements page states that publications are moving to a six monthly cycle, with the first such release scheduled for this quarter.1718

Enforcement activity was heavy inside the window. Assurity Care Pty Ltd of Manor Lakes had its registration revoked permanently effective 5:00pm on 14 August 2026 and can no longer provide specialist disability accommodation, specialist behaviour support or plan management. Two further revocations effective 10 August, both with SDA in scope, followed audits identifying major non-conformities with applicable NDIS Practice Standards. Five banning orders took effect on 14 August and three on 12 August.19

A Senate committee tabled its final report on the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 on 14 August, recommending that the bill pass, with dissent from the Greens and independent senator David Pocock. This account rests on secondary reporting rather than the committee report itself. The bill has not passed and is not law. Any figure attributed to it, including proposed independent functional assessments from 2028, describes a proposal, not a settled rule.2021

Revenue ruling DA-070, issued 20 July 2026, takes effect on 17 August 2026 and applies to contracts of sale entered into on or after that date. Where a purchaser pays an apportioned land tax amount that forms part of what moves the transfer, that amount is dutiable consideration under section 20(1) of the Duties Act 2000. Below the Sale of Land Act section 10G threshold a purported land tax pass through has no effect. A windfall gains tax liability existing at contract date cannot be passed on, while one arising between contract and settlement and paid by the purchaser is consideration, and municipal rates reimbursement is not consideration. The ruling states the threshold as $10 million for the 2024 calendar year, adjusted annually for CPI. No other SRO news item was published in August 2026.2223

Housing Australia: no material verified update this week. Within the scope we track, being build to rent, the National Rental Affordability Scheme wind down and private rental policy, no Housing Australia item could be verified from an accessible source in the 9 to 16 August window, so none is reported here.

Anglicare Victoria surveyed 15,244 unique private rental listings across 80 Victorian local government areas on the weekend of 14 and 15 March 2026. Statewide, 121 listings, or 0.79 per cent, were affordable and appropriate for at least one household type relying on income support, and 4,706, or 30.87 per cent, for at least one minimum wage household type. The reference weekend is five months before this edition and the survey is a single weekend snapshot of advertised listings.24

Within the same snapshot, 23 listings were affordable for a single person receiving the Age Pension, and 22 of those 23 were rooms in shared accommodation rather than self contained homes. We read this as the clearest available indication that room based product, not whole dwellings, is where single income private renters at the lower end of the market are actually able to transact.24

Minimum wage affordability in metropolitan Melbourne concentrates in the western and northern corridors: Wyndham 971 affordable listings, Melton 910, Hume 463, Whittlesea 300 and part of Mitchell Shire 104. The proportion of metropolitan listings affordable to minimum wage earners rose from 19.2 per cent in 2025 to 26.9 per cent in 2026, while total metropolitan listings fell from 13,468 to 12,562.24

The Melbourne average share accommodation room rent displayed on Flatmates in mid August 2026 is $394 per week. No reference period, sample size or methodology is published alongside it. REIV records a metropolitan Melbourne median weekly house rent of $595 for June 2026. These are different datasets on different bases and different reference periods. Any comparison between a per room figure and a whole dwelling figure is illustrative only and is not a yield calculation.258

Melbourne's July 2026 gross yields, being 4.0 per cent for dwellings and 5.1 per cent for units, are a baseline released 3 August rather than a reading from this week. Entry level auction results reported for the week ending 15 August include Kalkallo at $425,000, Melton South at $536,000, Craigieburn at $568,000, Glenroy at $610,000 and Gladstone Park at $633,000. These are the same corridors carrying the highest minimum wage affordability counts in the March snapshot. REIV's clearance rate, reported auction count and median for that week did not resolve from the published page, so no REIV clearance figure is published here.249

The CAV public register records licensed rooming house operators but not the premises at which they operate. Premises are recorded in the relevant council register, so due diligence requires both. No total operator count and no last updated date is published.16

The 13 October 2026 date is the nearest operational compliance obligation for Victorian rooming house operators. It requires records demonstrating minimum standards compliance when a property is advertised or offered, gas and electrical safety checks every two years, a gas check within six months before draughtproofing, strengthened bond claim evidence, and no application fees. For a rooming house, minimum standards evidence is a room by room exercise, not a single dwelling certificate. Obligations already in force since 25 November 2025 include the ban on no fault evictions, fixed terms rolling automatically to periodic, 90 days notice for rent increases and certain notices to vacate, a ban on all rental bidding, and mandatory annual smoke alarm checks. The fixed heater standard has applied since 1 December 2025. For tax treatment of letting rooms, TR 2026/1 remains the governing ruling.1512

Financing conditions this week point one way. The cash rate was held at 4.35 per cent on 11 August with policy described as somewhat restrictive, new investor loan commitments fell 8.6 per cent by number over the June quarter, and the self managed super fund gearing route for residential property that is not business real property closed for new arrangements from 10 August. On land supply, no current Victorian figure is available to cite: the Urban Development Program page states it was last updated in December 2023, so we treat growth corridor lot supply as an open question this week rather than reporting a stale number as current.171126

Victoria records 5,576 active participants with SDA in use and 1,791 SDA eligible participants not yet using SDA at 30 June 2026, from a Victorian active participant base of 210,846. By comparison, New South Wales records 5,205 in use with 2,897 eligible not yet using, and Queensland 2,856 with 1,710.17

By statistical area, identified SDA need in Victoria is largest in Melbourne South East at 940, being 682 in use and 258 eligible not yet using, then Melbourne West at 811, Melbourne North East at 778, Melbourne Outer East at 650 and Melbourne Inner South at 484. These are counts of people, not of unlet dwellings, and they do not describe design category or price point.17

Victoria's 4,190 enrolled SDA dwellings comprise 2,883 new build, 1,132 existing, 103 new build refurbished and 72 legacy, across 197 active providers, concentrating in Melbourne West at 775, Melbourne South East at 585, Melbourne North East at 409, Geelong at 311 and Melbourne Inner at 307. Nationally, enrolled dwellings reached 14,235 at 30 June 2026 from 11,642 a year earlier, while the eligible not yet using pool fell from 9,880 to 9,014.17

The figure we would flag most carefully is Victoria's unfinished, unenrolled new build pipeline of 2,249 dwellings, against 1,791 SDA eligible participants in Victoria not yet using SDA. Pipeline concentration is Melbourne West 496, Melbourne South East 371, Melbourne North East 175, Melbourne Inner 157 and Geelong 150, and by design category High Physical Support 1,436 and Robust 486. The two counts are not directly commensurable: a pipeline dwelling may house more than one resident, pipeline dwellings may not complete, completion timing is unstated, and the eligible not yet using cohort turns over. What it does suggest is that location and design category discipline matters more in Victoria now than a statewide shortfall narrative would imply, particularly in High Physical Support in the west and south east.17

Vacancy is the missing variable. The Housing Hub's Q4 2025-26 Accessible Housing and Support Data Snapshot states that it contains SDA vacancy rates by state and suburb level breakdowns, but no numerical vacancy rate is published on the public page, so none is reproduced here. No new Victoria specific demand measure dated in this window could be verified from the NDIS demand data page.2728

Assurity Care Pty Ltd of Manor Lakes had its registration revoked permanently under section 73P(1)(e), effective 5:00pm on 14 August 2026, and can no longer provide specialist disability accommodation, specialist behaviour support or plan management, or implement regulated restrictive practices. Two revocations effective 10 August, both with SDA in scope, followed audits identifying major non-conformities with NDIS Practice Standards. A further revocation limited to the specialist disability accommodation registration group takes effect at 5:00pm on 17 August, with others dated 24, 25 and 31 August. Practice Standards audit non-conformity is now a demonstrated revocation pathway, and revocations take effect on a fixed date without a transition period. For an SDA owner, this is a counterparty question rather than a building question: where rental income depends on a single registered provider, the registration status of that provider is the exposure.19

The current published arrangement on the NDIS SDA pricing page remains the NDIS Pricing Arrangements for Specialist Disability Accommodation 2025-26, with the accompanying 2025-26 price calculator. No 2026-27 SDA pricing arrangement, effective date, location factor or base year price is stated on that page, so no 2026-27 price is published here. On legislation, the Senate committee recommended passage of the NDIS amendment bill on 14 August, with dissent recorded. The bill is not law, and SDA payments are housing payments rather than the social and community participation category discussed in that reporting.292021

SRO DA-070 takes effect 17 August 2026. From that date the ruling's land tax and congestion levy views apply to contracts of sale entered into on or after 17 August, so apportioned land tax paid by a purchaser on transactions at or above the Sale of Land Act section 10G threshold forms part of dutiable consideration. We are watching whether the CPI adjusted threshold for the current calendar year is published, since the ruling states only the $10 million figure for calendar 2024.22

Senate vote on the NDIS amendment bill, week commencing 17 August 2026. A Senate committee recommended passage in its final report of 14 August and passage was reported as expected as early as the following week. The bill is not law. We are watching whether SDA and supported independent living housing payments are expressly carved out of the proposed ministerial power to reduce funding categories.20

Victorian rental law tranche, 13 October 2026, is under two months away. It introduces strengthened bond claim requirements, records demonstrating minimum standards compliance at advertising or offer, gas and electrical safety checks every two years, a gas check within six months before draughtproofing, and a full ban on application fees. We are watching whether CAV publishes a prescribed form or record keeping guidance, since rooming houses must demonstrate compliance room by room.15

The SDA data cycle appears to be moving from quarterly to six monthly. The NDIS supplements page states that the first six monthly release is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2025-26. We are watching whether a September quarter 2026 Supplement P appears, or whether the next SDA refresh is deferred, which would leave the 30 June 2026 figures as the market's only reference point for six months.1817

Support wage timetable, not yet verified from a primary source. Secondary reporting describes an interim increase for home care disability workers under Schedule E of the SCHADS Award, scheduled for the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, with a new integrated classification structure from 1 October 2027. We publish no figure for it, because it could not be verified from a primary Fair Work Commission source. We are watching whether the final determination is published and whether it stays confined to Schedule E home care disability work, since extension to supported living settings would flow into operating cost bases in SDA dwellings.30