Wage growth slows to weakest pace this year amid home auction slump

• Wage growth has retreated to a snail’s pace, dropping to its lowest level this year.
• CBA data shows wage growth at 3.1 per cent in October, the slowest pace since December 2025.
• The slowdown in wages comes as fewer sellers are prepared to put their property up for auction, with less than half of homes currently selling.

Australian wages have slowed to the weakest pace this year and properties are struggling to sell at auction as workers pull back on their budgets.

New data from CommBank’s wage and labour insights revealed that monthly wage growth eased to 3.1 per cent in October, the slowest pace the bank has recorded since December 2025.

CommBank economist Harry Ottley said the weak pace of wages was actually a good thing for the economy, as was not showing that expectations of high inflation were becoming embedded.

“The timing matters,” Ottley said.

“The RBA lifted its wage forecasts earlier this month on the view that higher inflation outcomes and expectations feed into wage negotiations, and flagged ‘an increasing risk that higher inflation expectations will become embedded’.

“Our data shows no sign of that yet as we enter Q4 2026. That should provide some comfort for the RBA, though it has no shortage of other inflation concerns.”

According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, the median weekly earnings — including both men and women — was $1,436.00 per week.

On an annual basis, that puts the median annual wage at $74,672.

When broken down by gender, the media weekly wage for men currently sits at $1,674 per week (or $87,048 per year) while for women earnings were currently at $1,250.00 per week (or $65,000 per year).

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Wage slowdown comes as auction sales tumble

The slowdown in wages comes amid a tumbling housing market, where the traditional spring lift has failed to boost the number of homes sold at auction.

Data from property research firm Cotality shows the weighted average final clearance rate across the combined capitals was just 45.2 per cent last week, well down from 66 per cent the year prior.

“Over the past four weeks, the clearance rate averaged 44.3 per cent, 0.9 percentage points below last week’s result, with conditions
remaining subdued,” writes Cotality economist Annabelle Mezieres.

“Even with this improvement, fewer than half of the homes taken to auction sold.

“Compared with the same week last year, the weighted average clearance rate last week was 20.7 percentage points lower.”

For the week ahead, Mezieres said there were some bright spots for sellers, despite the year-on-year activity remaining markedly lower.

“More homes are heading to auction this week, with 1,951 scheduled across the combined capital cities, an increase of 15.1 per cent from last week’s 1,695,” she said.

“Even so, auction volumes remain 39.1 per cent lower than the same week last year, when 3,204 homes went to auction.”