House prices fell, and so did your buyer's deposit. What that means for how a sale is put together

Australian home values fell for the sixth month in a row in September, and for a business seller that matters because some buyers fund the money they put into a business from the equity in their house. When the house is worth less, so is the deposit.

What the index says

Cotality's Home Value Index, released on 1 October 2026, showed national dwelling values down 1.1 per cent in September, the sixth straight monthly fall. Nationally, values are now 5.2 per cent below their record high from March 2026.

Brisbane recorded the sharpest monthly fall of the capitals, down 1.5 per cent in September and 4.7 per cent over the three months to the end of September. Cotality's figures put Brisbane 5.4 per cent below its peak in May 2026.

That needs one qualification, because it changes the answer for some owners. Brisbane values are still 5.9 per cent higher than they were a year earlier. A buyer who bought their home years ago may have plenty of equity left. The squeeze is on buyers who bought recently or borrowed close to the limit.

Cotality also estimated Brisbane home sales over the past three months were 27.2 per cent lower than a year earlier, the sharpest annual fall among the capital cities.

The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Board noted that housing prices had fallen in a number of capital cities when it met on 29 September, said new housing loans had declined noticeably, and referred to uncertainty about the economic effects of "the downturn in the housing market".

Why a house price is a business sale question

A private buyer funding a business purchase has a few places to find the money: savings, a business loan, and for some, the family home. One route is to borrow against the equity in the home, either to put cash into the purchase or to give the lender security for the business loan.

The Reserve Bank has reported this from the lending side. Its September 2018 Bulletin said its liaison with lenders and businesses had highlighted that the availability of housing collateral has a significant effect on the cost and availability of debt finance for small business borrowers.

Here is why a modest fall in house prices can bite harder than it looks. The figures are illustrative only, and the lending ratio is an assumption for the example, not any lender's policy.

• A buyer's home is worth $1,000,000 and they owe $500,000 on it.
• Assume a lender will lend against the home up to 80 per cent of its value, which is $800,000. Less the $500,000 owing, the buyer can draw on $300,000.
• The home falls 5 per cent to $950,000. Eighty per cent of that is $760,000. Less the same $500,000, the buyer can now draw on $260,000.

A 5 per cent fall in the home's value has cut the usable equity by $40,000, or about 13 per cent. Nothing about your business changed.

That sits on top of the other pressure on buyers this year. Rates have risen in 2026, and I covered what that does to how much a lender will advance against your earnings in the cash rate and what a buyer can pay. Less equity and less borrowing capacity point the same way.

What it does to the shape of a deal

When a buyer's own money shrinks, the gap between the price and the funding has to close somewhere. The buyer can find the money elsewhere. The price can move. Or the seller can carry part of it. These are the common ways the last one is done.

Vendor finance. You lend the buyer part of the price, repaid over an agreed term after settlement. The questions that matter are the interest rate, the term, the security you hold and what happens if a payment is missed. Business Queensland's guidance says a sale contract should include provisions for the buyer defaulting on instalment payments. Your solicitor drafts those, and your registered tax agent tells you how the payments are taxed.

Staged payments. Fixed amounts on fixed dates, owed whatever the business does after settlement. The risk is the buyer's ability to pay, not the business hitting a target, which makes staged payments a different thing from an earn out.

An earn out. Part of the price depends on the business hitting agreed targets after settlement. The buyer controls the business that decides whether you are paid, so the protections in the contract are the whole negotiation. I set that out in what is an earn out.

A longer settlement. Business Queensland notes that a buyer might have trouble securing finance and ask for a longer settlement. That is not a structure so much as a delay, but it is the first sign a buyer's funding is tight.

Both sides of it

The case for accepting some structure. A capable buyer whose home lost value has not become a worse operator. Vendor finance or staged payments can keep a sound deal alive, a vendor loan can carry interest, and a buyer who has put their own home on the line has reason to make the business work. Turning away every structured offer narrows your buyer pool in a market where it may already be narrower.

The case for caution. Every dollar deferred is a dollar at risk. You are lending to a buyer whose finances are, by definition, tighter than they were, and after settlement you have no control over the business that repays you. Security helps, but security over a business that is struggling is worth less at exactly the moment you need it.

Not every buyer is in this position. A trade buyer funding the purchase from its own business, or a buyer with cash, is unaffected by what their house did. Part of reading an offer is knowing which buyer you have.

What it means for your expectations

I will not predict what this does to prices. A business is valued on what it earns and how reliably that transfers, and a house price index does not change your earnings. What it can change is how much some buyers can fund, and that can show up in the price offered as well as in the form the offer takes.

The test I would apply to any offer with deferred money in it: ignore the headline, and ask whether the cash at settlement alone is a price you would accept. If it is, the rest is upside you can negotiate calmly. If it is not, push on the certain portion rather than the deferred one.

If you want a written view of where your business sits before any of this comes up, that is what what is my business worth is for.

Where a broker fits

A broker's job here is to ask early how a buyer is funding the purchase, how much of it is their own money and where that money comes from, and to put a structure in front of you that you understand. I am not a financial adviser, a solicitor or a tax agent. The contract terms belong with your solicitor and the tax treatment of deferred payments belongs with your registered tax agent.

What to do

• Decide the minimum you need at settlement before you see an offer, so a headline figure does not decide it for you.
• Ask every buyer how the purchase is funded, including how much is their own money and whether it relies on equity in a home.
• If vendor finance is raised, talk to your solicitor about security before you agree to anything in principle. When carrying part of the price makes sense sets out the protections.
• Ask your registered tax agent how deferred or instalment payments are taxed in your structure.
• Keep your earnings evidence strong. The more a lender will fund against the business itself, the less the buyer's house has to carry.