Confidence in the property sector has surged in Queensland and South Australia as Australia’s real-estate industry goes into the new year with a spirit of optimism, new data suggests.

But Victoria remains the sector’s laggard.

The Property Council of Australia and construction technology management software platform Procore have released the latest edition of their quarterly Procore/Property Council Industry Sentiment Survey.

According to the data, overall sentiment remains at healthy levels.

In the December quarter, the Confidence Index contracted by a tiny margin of just one point to go from 124 to 123.

At this level, the index has contracted slightly across 2025 but remains at elevated levels compared with the last three years (see chart).

Furthermore, the index remains well above the 100.0 mark which separates positive sentiment from negative sentiment.

However, the aggregate results masked considerable variances across individual state and territories as confidence has soared in both South Australia and Queensland but is lagging in Victoria (see chart and below).

At a national level:

• Survey participants were highly optimistic about their forward work schedules over the next twelve months and were generally optimistic about their staffing levels over the same period.
• Participants are also optimistic about capital growth prospects for capital growth and construction activity across sectors such as retirement living, housing, industrial and hotels. However, participants are understandably more subdued about the office and retail sectors amid high levels of office vacancy and ongoing retail challenges.
• However, participants are subdued in their expectations about the economy (state and national). In addition, participants are longer confident that about their twelve month expectations in respect of the direction of either interest rates or debt finance availability.
• Outside of South Australia, participants are critical of state and federal government performances in terms of planning and managing growth. Participants in Victoria and ACT are particularly scathing of government the performances of their respective governments in that regard.

Confident in two states, gloomy in one

As mentioned above, survey participants are particularly optimistic in Queensland and South Australia but are pessimistic in Victoria.

Across both Queensland and SA, the economic outlook is improving whilst a strong recovery in new home building is underway.

In Queensland, meanwhile, the sector is expected to benefit from investment and activity associated with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Meanwhile, survey participants in these states are also positive in their appraisal of government performance.

In South Australia, the index which measures state government performance in planning and managing growth stands at almost +80.

This is the highest score on record for any state government in the survey’s fourteen-year history.

Key to this was the release last year of the state government’s housing roadmap.

This roadmap includes large land releases, the abolition of stamp duty on new homes, more investment in enabling infrastructure such as water and sewerage, faster approvals, expanded workforce training, greater rights for renters and an increase in public housing investment.

This was supported by the establishment of a new Department for Housing and Urban Development.

In Queensland, meanwhile, the property sector has applauded state government initiatives such as a $2 billion program to fund enabling infrastructure for new housing development as well as measures to boost construction productivity.

At the other end of the scale, Victoria was the only state to record negative sentiment.

Victoria scored worst across almost every area, with Victorian survey participants being partly gloomy about the outlook for the state’s economy.

Furthermore, survey participants in Victoria are demining in their assessment of their state government’s performance in planning and managing growth.

In this area, the index for appraisal of state government performance stood at a startlingly low -65.3 points.

This comes amid a perception in the state the sector is drowning in excessive taxation, complex regulation and rising costs.

Not surprisingly, therefore, governments in the higher performing states have been applauded for their efforts whilst the Victorian Government has been encouraged to do better.

In Queensland, for example, Property Council Queensland Executive Director Jess Caire said the result reflects continued momentum across Queensland’s economy along with a growing acknowledgement of the work underway to increase supply and support investment.

Queensland continues to be the place to be, with one of the highest confidence ratings on record,” Caire said.

“This uplift shows that the efforts from both government and industry to work together to bolster supply over the last 12 months is paying dividends.

Speaking of the situation in Victoria, however, Property Council of Australia Victorian Executive Director Cath Evans said the results show a sector struggling under the weight of persistent tax pressure, rising costs and overly complex regulation.

“Victoria is consistently recording extremely low levels of confidence in the state government, and in the industry’s ability to deliver much-needed supply of new housing,” Evans said.

“This should be a wake-up call to the government that urgent action and a new approach is needed to reinvigorate the sector.”

Conducted on a quarterly basis since its inception in 2011, the Procore/Property Council Survey is one of the largest surveys of Australia’s property sector.

Respondents are drawn from across the property industry, including property developers, managers and agents and service providers.

The Q4 2025 survey was conducted online between 10 November and 26 November 2025 and included 322 respondents.

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