NDIS amendment becomes law with SDA stated unchanged, SRO DA-070 takes effect, and Melbourne rents hold while values soften

Rents held while sale prices softened, and that combination is the observable feature of this week. Advertised Melbourne rents across all dwellings averaged $694.70 per week in the week ending 20 August 2026, up 5.9 per cent over twelve months, with houses at $817.45 and units at $605.52. Over the same period Cotality dated the Melbourne value peak to November 2025 at about $840,000 and described Melbourne as holding the smallest buffer of any capital. We publish no Melbourne gross yield figure, because none was verifiable from a primary source this week. The only verified yield comparison is national: 4.2 per cent across regional Australia against 3.6 per cent across the combined capitals for the quarter to July 2026.4109

Auction evidence points to buyer leverage, but the two commonly quoted Melbourne clearance rates are not comparable and should not be read as a week on week move. Domain reports 57 per cent for the weekend of 16 to 22 August 2026 on a preliminary basis with 367 of 570 scheduled auctions reported and a median reported auction sale price of $917,000, which is a median of auction sales and not a market median. REIV reports 68 per cent for the week ending 16 August 2026 on a final basis that captures sales before and after auction, against 74 per cent the prior week and 86 per cent in the same week a year earlier. The volume comparison is the steadier signal: 405 REIV reported auctions against 688 a year earlier, and national auction volumes reported 33.6 per cent below the same time last year.5611

Cotality dates the Melbourne peak to November 2025 and states Melbourne has the smallest buffer of any capital. Secondary reporting of the Cotality daily index put Melbourne 5.9 per cent below peak and down 1.18 per cent in the month to 21 August 2026, while PropTrack recorded Melbourne down 2.7 per cent over the year to July 2026 on a hedonic index. The figure moves with the source and the date cited.101112

Vacancy and median rent readings for Melbourne diverge by source, so we publish them separately rather than as a single number. REIV reports metropolitan Melbourne vacancy fell to 2.6 per cent in July 2026 on its own method, with a metropolitan median weekly house rent of $600, a new high. Domain reports vacancy of 1.2 per cent for June 2026, the second lowest June outcome on record, with house and unit rents both $600 for the June quarter. Cotality's 1.7 per cent is for the combined capitals, not Melbourne. Readers should treat any single vacancy figure as source specific.789

Regional Victoria no longer looks like a straightforward growth alternative. Cotality's 19 August 2026 analysis records regional dwelling values down 0.1 per cent over the three months to July 2026 against a 2.5 per cent fall across the combined capitals, but names regional New South Wales and Victoria as the weakest markets, with Geelong down 1.2 per cent and Warragul-Drouin down 1.5 per cent over the quarter. On that evidence, feasibilities in the Geelong and Gippsland corridors read as income led rather than growth led.9

Separately, secondary reporting of ABS June quarter 2026 data describes 8,468 investor construction loan commitments, a record in a series running back to September 2019, and a rolling twelve month record of 31,837. That figure should be treated as reported rather than read directly from an ABS release.13

No material verified ATO update this week. The ATO media centre and new legislation pages could not be retrieved during this research window, so no ATO publication dated 16 to 23 August 2026 is reported here. The baselines below are unchanged and are included sparingly for reference.

Limited recourse borrowing arrangements entered into by a self managed super fund on or after 10 August 2026 to purchase real property can only be used to acquire business real property, regardless of lender type, and the asset must remain business real property for the life of the arrangement. Arrangements entered into before that date, including later maintenance or refinance, and binding contracts exchanged before that date, are stated as outside the restriction.14

Taxation Ruling TR 2026/1, issued 20 May 2026, remains the operative ruling on rental income and deductions for individuals who are not carrying on a business. Its coverage expressly includes letting rooms in a home, apportionment between income producing and non income producing use, and short term letting through platforms. The National Rental Affordability Scheme ended on 30 June 2026, although an eligible taxpayer can still claim the refundable tax offset after that date.1516

No material verified Consumer Affairs Victoria rental or rooming house update this week. The CAV news list for the window shows a used car purchasing campaign dated 20 August 2026, and the nearest preceding items are dated 7 and 6 August 2026. The operative baseline is unchanged and the nearest deadline is now under two months away. From 13 October 2026 the CAV guidance lists strengthened bond claim rules requiring advance notice and evidence, a requirement to keep records showing minimum standards compliance at the time a property is advertised, mandatory gas and electrical safety checks every two years for all rental agreements, a gas check by a licensed gasfitter within six months before draughtproofing work, and a ban on any rental application fees.1718

Beyond that, new minimum energy efficiency standards covering heating, cooling, hot water, showerheads, ceiling insulation and draughtproofing are phased in from 1 March 2027, while the obligations in force since 25 November 2025, including the ban on no fault evictions, 90 day notice for rent increases, a ban on all rental bidding and minimum standards at advertising, are unchanged.18

This is the material development of the week. The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 20 August 2026 as Act No. 66 of 2026 and is now law as made, after Senate passage on 18 August 2026 with 32 government amendments and completion of passage on 19 August 2026.11920

The Government's explainer states that supports essential to critical care and daily living are unchanged, naming SDA, supports in the home, and home and vehicle modifications, and states directly: no change to SDA. It also states that the Minister's support determination power cannot affect continuous 24 hour care. On the published position, the SDA housing payment stream is not the subject of the announced budget reductions.2

The dated changes that do matter to SDA landlords sit on the operator side. From 1 October 2026 social, civic and community participation budgets reduce by 50 per cent and capacity building daily activity by 10 per cent. From 1 December 2026 the provider claim window contracts from two years to 90 days. From 1 February 2027 unspent plan funds no longer roll over. From 1 July 2027 higher risk supports must be delivered by registered providers, and supported independent living mandatory registration has been rolling out from 1 July 2026. One caveat on commencement: the schedule by schedule table available to us describes the bill as introduced, and 32 amendments were made in the Senate before passage, so we cite the settled dates from the Government explainer in preference to schedule references.221

On enforcement, one registration revocation took effect inside the window. Vitium Care Services Pty Ltd, of Stockleigh Queensland, had its registration revoked effective 5:00pm on 17 August 2026, with registration groups including specialist disability accommodation and supported independent living. No new Victorian compliance or enforcement action took effect between 16 and 23 August 2026. Four further revocations carry dates after this edition, on 24, 25 and 31 August 2026, and are therefore scheduled rather than completed events.22

Public ruling DA-070, Land transfer duty: Assumed tax amounts, reached its date of effect on 17 August 2026, inside the window. It was issued on 20 July 2026 and its status is current. It explains when an assumed tax liability amount forms part of the consideration for a dutiable transaction under section 20(1) of the Duties Act 2000, covering land tax, windfall gains tax and the congestion levy. No other SRO news item was published in August 2026, the most recent listed item being dated 20 July 2026.323

The threshold does the work. Where a pass on of land tax is void under section 10G of the Sale of Land Act 1962 because the sale price is below the prescribed threshold, the purported pass on is not consideration. At or above the threshold, an apportioned land tax amount paid by the purchaser at settlement is consideration and is dutiable, and labels such as adjustments are not determinative. The threshold from 1 January 2026 is $10,700,000 including GST, indexed to CPI and rounded to the nearest $100,000. For a single site rooming house, co-living or SDA acquisition priced below the threshold, the practical position is unchanged.324

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 investor policy, the Housing Australia media centre lists items dated 12 August, 3 August, 29 July and 27 July 2026, none of which fall inside the window or address that scope. The relevant current baseline is that the National Rental Affordability Scheme ended on 30 June 2026, so its discounted rent obligations have ceased.2516

The cleanest visible measure of room level demand depth in Melbourne remains the ratio of seekers to advertised rooms. For postcode 3000 that ratio is shown as two people looking for each room listed, at an average room rent of $393 per week and an equivalent annual income of $20,436, with recent rented listings spread from $200 to $550 per week. The page carries no publication date, sample size or method, so we treat it as a live snapshot accessed on 23 August 2026 rather than a dated statistic.26

The wide room rent range for that single postcode, $100 to $800 per week, is itself the observation. It reflects highly mixed stock quality rather than a single market rate, so a feasibility that adopts the postcode average as its rent assumption is adopting a blend of purpose built and converted stock.26

On the private rental affordability side, the most directly relevant finding for shared accommodation is from the Anglicare Victoria snapshot weekend of 14 and 15 March 2026: across metropolitan Melbourne, zero of the 12,562 advertised private rental listings were affordable and appropriate for a single person in a share house on Youth Allowance, and 50 were affordable for a single person on the minimum wage. That is a five month old baseline and a single weekend snapshot, but it indicates the depth of demand at the lower end of the private rental market that room based product addresses.27

Melbourne rent levels differ by source because the sources measure different things. REIV reports a metropolitan median weekly house rent of $600 for July 2026, a new high on its member listings. Domain reports $600 per week for both Melbourne houses and units for the June quarter 2026, with house rents up 0.8 per cent and unit rents unchanged over the quarter. SQM Research reports an average advertised asking rent of $817.45 for all Melbourne houses in the week ending 20 August 2026. A median of achieved or listed rents and an average of advertised asking rents are not comparable, and we publish them separately for that reason.784

Within the advertised series the deceleration is visible at the shorter horizons. Combined Melbourne dwellings sit up 5.9 per cent over twelve months and up 0.7 per cent over the quarter, but down 0.1 per cent over the month, and three bedroom houses are down 1.1 per cent over the quarter while still up 3.1 per cent over the year. Rent growth remains positive year on year and is flattening month to month, which is a different proposition to rent growth accelerating.4

One official Victorian series does report rooming house and separate room rents at local government area level, but its latest release covers the September quarter 2025, with dataset metadata last updated 24 February 2026. We publish no value from it, since the publication itself was not retrievable in this window, and we note that anyone relying on that series is currently working with data roughly eleven months old.30

No total count of registered Victorian rooming house operators is published, because the CAV public register is a search only interface. No current Victorian greenfield land supply figure is available either, since the Urban Development Program page carries a last updated date of December 2023 and states no figures.2829

The 13 October 2026 tranche is the nearest operational obligation and it lands heaviest on multi room assets. It requires records showing minimum standards compliance at the time a property is advertised, with the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria able to publish guidance, mandatory gas and electrical safety checks every two years for all rental agreements, a gas check by a licensed gasfitter within six months before draughtproofing work, strengthened bond claim rules requiring advance notice and evidence, and a ban on any rental application fees. For a rooming house, minimum standards evidence is a room by room exercise rather than a single dwelling certificate, and application fee revenue ceases entirely.18

Compliance is also being positioned as an election issue. Tenants Victoria published its Victorian election 2026 platform on 17 August 2026, inside the window, confirming the state election date as 28 November 2026 and listing four asks, one of which is to drive compliance with rental minimum standards and help landlords understand their role. We read that as a signal that minimum standards and repairs will stay prominent through to late November regardless of outcome.31

Two structural constraints frame acquisition and holding rather than operations. New limited recourse borrowing arrangements from 10 August 2026 are limited to business real property, which closes the self managed super fund gearing route for residential rooming house stock, and TR 2026/1 governs how room by room income and apportioned deductions are reported by individual investors who are not carrying on a business. We publish no Melbourne gross yield, because no Melbourne specific figure was verifiable from a primary source this week.1415

The Act is law, with Royal Assent on 20 August 2026 as Act No. 66 of 2026 following Senate passage on 18 August with 32 government amendments. For SDA specifically, the Government explainer lists SDA, supports in the home, and home and vehicle modifications among the supports that are unchanged, states plainly that there is no change to SDA, and states that the Minister's support determination power cannot affect continuous 24 hour care.1192

We would draw a clear line between the payment and the counterparty. On the published position the SDA housing payment is unaffected, so what changes for landlords is the durability of the operator standing between the scheme and the dwelling. Three dated changes drive that. From 1 October 2026 social, civic and community participation budgets reduce by 50 per cent and capacity building daily activity by 10 per cent. From 1 December 2026 the provider claim window contracts from two years to 90 days. From 1 February 2027 unspent plan funds no longer roll over. A 90 day claim window is a working capital change for SIL and support providers, and for an SDA owner that is a counterparty question rather than a building question.2

One caveat on precision. The schedule by schedule commencement table available to us was prepared for the bill as introduced, and 32 amendments were made in the Senate before passage. We therefore rely on the settled dates published in the Government explainer, and we do not assume that every schedule detail described at introduction survived unchanged.212

Victoria records 5,576 active participants with SDA in use and 1,791 SDA eligible participants not yet using SDA at 30 June 2026, alongside 7,935 supported independent living participants and 210,846 active participants in total. Nationally the comparable figures are 16,644 in use, up from 16,263 at 31 March 2026, and 9,014 eligible not yet using, down from 9,370.32

By statistical area, identified Victorian need 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 rather than of unlet dwellings, and they carry no design category or price information.32

Victoria's 4,190 enrolled SDA dwellings concentrate in Melbourne West at 775, Melbourne South East at 585, Melbourne North East at 409 and Melbourne Inner at 307, and by design category in High Physical Support at 1,961, Robust at 863, Improved Liveability at 657 and Fully Accessible at 422. Nationally, enrolled dwellings reached 14,235 at 30 June 2026 from 13,779 at 31 March 2026.32

The figure we would flag most carefully is the unfinished, unenrolled Victorian new build pipeline of 2,249 dwellings, against 1,791 Victorian participants eligible but not yet using SDA. The pipeline is weighted to High Physical Support at 1,436 and Robust at 486, and concentrated in Melbourne West at 496 and Melbourne South East at 371. We put that comparison forward as an observation rather than a conclusion, since the two counts are not directly commensurable: a dwelling may house more than one resident, pipeline dwellings may not complete, completion timing is unstated, and the eligible cohort turns over. What it does suggest is that design category and location discipline matters more in Victoria now than a statewide shortfall framing would imply, particularly for High Physical Support in the west and south east.32

Vacancy remains the missing variable. The current edition of the Housing Hub Accessible Housing and Support Data Snapshot for Q4 25-26 states that it contains SDA vacancy rates by state and suburb level breakdowns, but no numerical rate is published on the public page, so none is reproduced here. Victoria and Melbourne figures from the NDIS SDA demand data tool were likewise not retrievable in this window, so no demand tool figure is published.3334

One revocation took effect inside the window, that of Vitium Care Services Pty Ltd of Stockleigh Queensland, effective 5:00pm on 17 August 2026, with registration groups including specialist disability accommodation and supported independent living. No new Victorian compliance or enforcement action took effect between 16 and 23 August 2026. Four further revocations carry effective dates after this edition and are therefore scheduled rather than completed: Ario Care Group on 24 August 2026, Tier 1 Care on 25 August 2026, and Boiz Holdings trading as Mama's Heart together with The Better Day Community Care on 31 August 2026, each at 5:00pm.22

The pattern is what matters rather than any single operator. Four of the five revocations in this cluster carry SDA or supported independent living registration groups, and revocations take effect on a fixed date and time with no transition period, so where rental income depends on a single registered provider, that provider's registration status is the exposure. For context immediately before this window, a Victorian provider based at Manor Lakes had its registration permanently revoked effective 5:00pm on 14 August 2026.22

The NDIS SDA pricing and payments page states it is current as of 6 August 2026, and no in window change to SDA pricing arrangements was verified. The page body did not render values in this research window, so we publish no 2026-27 base price, location factor or uplift.35

On support wages, the Fair Work Commission records that on 1 June 2026 the Expert Panel issued decision 2026 FWCFB 137 on the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award, finalising matter AM2024/21 pending comment on the provisional view for Schedule E employees. We publish no percentage and no commencement date for Schedule E, because the position remains a provisional view. Schedule E covers home care employees in disability care, so it flows into support operating cost and operator margin rather than into SDA rent.36

For scale acquisitions, the duty position changed this week: where an SDA site or portfolio transacts at or above $10,700,000 including GST, an apportioned land tax amount paid by the purchaser at settlement is dutiable consideration under ruling DA-070, effective 17 August 2026.3

1 December 2026: the provider claim window shortens to 90 days. Under the new Act the provider claim window contracts from two years to 90 days, and from 1 October 2026 participation budgets reduce by 50 per cent with capacity building daily activity down 10 per cent, then from 1 February 2027 unspent plan funds cease to roll over. SDA rent is stated as unchanged, so what we are watching is operator cash flow discipline and whether smaller SIL and support providers adjust billing practice ahead of the date.2

13 October 2026: the next Victorian rental law tranche. Strengthened bond claim rules, records showing minimum standards compliance at advertising, mandatory gas and electrical safety checks every two years, a gas check within six months before draughtproofing, and a total ban on rental application fees all commence. We are watching whether the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes record keeping guidance or a prescribed form, since multi room assets must evidence compliance room by room.18

24, 25 and 31 August 2026: three further revocation dates fall due. Ario Care Group on 24 August, Tier 1 Care on 25 August, and Boiz Holdings trading as Mama's Heart together with The Better Day Community Care on 31 August, each at 5:00pm. These are forward dates rather than completed events at the time of writing. We are watching whether any Victorian provider joins the list, since none took effect in Victoria between 16 and 23 August 2026.22

28 November 2026: the Victorian state election and minimum standards enforcement. Tenants Victoria published its election platform on 17 August 2026, confirming the election date and listing as one of four asks that compliance with rental minimum standards be driven and that landlords be helped to understand their role. We are watching whether minimum standards enforcement funding or inspection activity is committed by either side, which would bear directly on rooming house and co-living operating cost.31

Next Fair Work Commission step on SCHADS Schedule E. The 1 June 2026 decision 2026 FWCFB 137 finalised matter AM2024/21 pending comment on the provisional view for Schedule E employees, with draft determinations published including one specific to Schedule E, and the Commission page was last updated 5 August 2026. We publish no figure, because none is settled. We are watching whether a final determination issues and whether it stays confined to home care employees in disability care, since that is where SIL and support operating cost sits.36