The Residential Property Prospects 2015-2018 report from construction industry analyst BIS Shrapnel predicts property prices in Melbourne and Sydney , two of the Australia’s strongest markets, will take a hit within that period.

Report author and BIS Shrapnek senior manager Angie Zigomanis says: “Beyond the next 12 months there may be more of an opportunity for buyers to come back in for housing and in some areas of the unit market I suspect buyers have already got the upper hand. It will be more of the same for the next 12 months, but things start to slow beyond that. It’s a regular function of the market, it’s economics 101. Market booms, people jump in and start building and market gets oversupplied and corrects.”

Brisbane is the only other state capital where buyers won’t be in a better position, according to the report. It says apartment prices are likely to be worst hit and warns that those buying off-plan now, as the market reaches its height, will only get the keys to their homes when prices have sunk.

President of the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia, Jacque Parker, agrees with the report’s conclusions about the country’s strongest markets, saying: “Sydney and Melbourne sellers have had the upper hand in the last 2.5 years. It is good for buyers in that they aren’t going to be chasing a rising market and there may be more time for thinking through a purchase of a property.”

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