Dream On 2026: Australians Quit the Property Wealth Dream

Key takeaways

• Dream On has tracked Australians’ relationship with property annually since 2024, with a June 2026 pulse check of n=1,107 (nationally representative waves run in February each year, n=1,000+)
• Three property segments identified: Grinders (traditional mortgage route), Innovators (alternative paths to ownership, e.g. shares, crypto, SMSFs), Quitters (given up on property as a wealth vehicle)
• Quitters rose from 25% (2024) to 35% (Feb 2026) to 57% (June 2026 pulse check) – now the dominant segment
• Grinders fell from 38% (2024) to 24% (Feb 2026) to 12% (June 2026 pulse check)
• 7 in 10 Quitters already own a home or are paying one off; they’re giving up on further property investment, not on housing itself
• 50% of Australians say they can’t afford an investment property (up from 42% two years ago); another 15% are rejecting property investment on principle (up from 11%)
• Life overall sentiment dropped from +50% (2025) to +33% (Feb 2026) to +18% (June 2026 pulse check)
• Finances sentiment worsened from -15% (2025) to -25% (June 2026 pulse check), the most negative domain tracked
• Over a quarter of Australians aged 30-49 say they wanted (more) kids but changed their mind, citing property and cost pressures as a contributing factor
• Australians plan to increase spend on health and home (fitness at home +56 net, home energy efficiency +35 net, DIY +28 net) while cutting takeaway and eating out (-46 net), food delivery (-43 net) and alcohol (-35 net)

Background

Part of every project we run includes some element of contextual overlay. Context helps us understand the lens through which people make decisions.

As part of this contextual overlay and ‘what’s going on in your world?’ sort of questioning, we hear similar themes coming up time and time again.

Dream On was born from this – we wanted to take a step-back from the specifics of a project, and take a look at the broader sentiment of how people are thinking and feeling about various aspects of their lives.

With property being such a big part of Australian discourse – from the great Australian dream of home ownership, to renovations, rising prices, etc., we wanted to take a closer look at housing sentiment.

The first year

It started off simply enough – we wanted to get under the hood of what people were feeling, and back this up with a survey to put hard numbers behind it.

We spent a full day hanging out with 10 Australians from all walks of life – from early 20s to retirees, from renters to owners, and explored everything going on. This was firstly geared at looking at the compensatory behaviours that may exist – just because property may be unsustainable for some, didn’t mean the needs around status, attainment, security, reassurance, reflection of self and values, place of escape, etc. went away – we wanted to explore how people may still ‘scratch these itches’.

This was then backed up by a nationally representative survey of over 1000 Australians aged 18+.

Subsequent years

In subsequent years, we spoke to as many of the same individuals year on year as we could to explore their changing views and sentiment. We continued to survey n=1000 each year, and conducted a pulse-check in June 2026.

The big takeaways from 2026

• We started our quantitative survey by asking ‘what 3-5 words come to mind when you think about…’ and prompted across various domains. While this was free-text, we used an emotional classification ontology to understand the emotions behind the words being chosen. This revealed both light and shade – friendships, relationships, hobbies were sources of joy. Work was a bit more balanced, with individuals negative about finances and the state of the environment / climate.
• However, negativity around finances has shot up, at the same time as positivity around life was dropping – a clear sense things are getting harder.
• Influencers love to say we each get the same 24 hours, so we wanted to take this framework of limited time / finance / energy and ‘zero sum’ game and understand where people were focusing their energy and efforts. To do so, we took Flanagan’s Quality of Life domains, and broke this up (Wellbeing split into Physical and Mental, Finances into Housing Security versus general finance). This revealed a third of energy being directed toward a roof over the head and money in the back – considerable effort. At the same time, the ‘pressure release valves’ when things get tough (personal development, hobbies, travel and exploration) attracted the smallest share. When things get tough – these pressure release valves are the first to get tamped down even harder. And worryingly, more effort is poured into physical wellbeing than mental wellbeing.
• We found that finances are the great leveller – even households on $300k+ with $2m+ assets report having to watch their spending. The renter we spoke to who finally afforded a home – crushed under the weight of interest rate rises; where previously he was out at gigs and going to the footy, now he only plays music when he’s paid, and the footy is off the cards. A perpetual renter who saw house prices reach $1.6m from the $650k when they moved to the area – initially living the good life and going to shows, she’s now worried about housing security and financial future. And we found this focus on finances comes in at 18, and doesn’t go away.
• The study looked at where Australians planned to increase their spend/time, or take up spending/time. This revealed a real sense of turning inwards – more health / fitness at home, a desire to control housing costs (through making the home more energy efficient either in cheap upgrades like insulation and downlights through to solar and batteries, home DIY), pets and an acknowledgment that housing and insurance spend would go up.
• Where they’re cutting back from: discretionary spend like alcohol, coffee, takeaway, food delivery. And we’ve seen this in spend – alcohol spend shifting toward ‘mid shelf’ rather than top shelf and spend less often, brunches less frequent, one good coffee bought per day and then the spend shifts toward instant.
• And we saw some movements year on year – COVID revenge travel in 2025 short-lived as airports closed and travel got expensive, education’s counter-cyclical spend during downturns was broken as it becomes increasingly pointless with AI driving redundancies, and a surge in more holistic sexual health and wellness.
• Our work then revealed three main segments – Grinders who plan to invest in property the traditional way through mortgage / cash (they are high income, high asset) – no surprise given the amount of time needed to save for a house deposit and service an investment property mortgage! Innovators who look to invest in property in other ways (rentvesting, buying with friends / family, rent-to-own, or trading crypto / ETFs to build wealth). And our Quitters who are walking away from investing in property – either in principle or due to unaffordability; 7-in-10 already own a home meaning they the home becomes home and not just an investment vehicle.
• An onward march in Quitters each year spiked in June following Budget announcements that would more onerously impact capital gains, coming at the expense of Innovators. Rising property prices, interest rates and cost-of-living following conflict in the Middle East and fuel prices drove down Grinders.
• We also found a quarter of people aged 30-49 say they wanted to have kids / more kids but had changed their mind, with cost of living / house insecurity a big driver of this.

All of which points to a shifting in mindset and mood toward property for brands to capitalise on, a need to reclaim levity and joy in a world that is increasingly harder and more negative, a need for brands to optimise for protection / efficiency / physical wellbeing, and those on the ‘cut back’ list to demonstrate value.

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Read a high level report here: Dream On 2026

Presentations available free-of-charge on request, with much richer and deeper data – down to LGA, specific age or gender cohorts, representation from various communities (those identifying as LGBTQIA+, those living with a disability or impairment that restricts daily life, those of a culturally or linguistically diverse background (CALD), those who identify as of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent).

Presentations can help shed a more nuanced and relevant light on nuances of your category – reach out for a session.