Canberra, Perth and Melbourne lead 4.8% rise in May residential listings: SQM

Larry SchlesingerDecember 7, 2020

The number of residential properties listed for sale across Australia rose 4.8% over May to a total of 379,158 properties. 

All capital cities recorded gains over May with biggest rises over the month occurring in Canberra and Perth - both cities recording 6.3% rises - followed by Melbourne (6%), Sydney (5.5%) and Brisbane (4.6%). 

SQM research director Louis Christopher says the across the board month-on-month rise in listings were “in part” to be expected as the market bounces back during May, after a dip in April due to the Easter holidays. 

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“Overall, if the market was indeed stronger, stock levels would be decreasing despite of seasonality. 

“However, we see that this is not the case as yet. It is the opinion of SQM Research that the current market is still in the very early stages of recovery," he says.

Christopher says Melbourne is a bit of a concern as year-on-year there are now more listings (up 1.2%). 

“We need to see stock being absorbed first before upward pricing momentum can occur,” Christopher says. 

Melbourne has by far the most stock on market with 49,268 residential listings. 

Brisbane is second with 28,205 listings – up 2.4% over the past year. 

Both have more listings than the bigger property market of Sydney, which has recorded the steepest decline in listings over the past year. 

Year-on-year, Sydney listings are down 10.1% to 27,761 properties for sale while Perth listings are down 2.3% over the past year. 

“Except for Sydney, Perth and Darwin, residential property listings across the country still remain elevated and stubbornly high. Melbourne is a prime example of this, “ says Christopher. 

“After a period earlier this year where it appeared that stock was being absorbed, we now have a situation where there is now even more stock on the market than what we had this time last year. Auction clearance rates may well be higher in that city but vendors seem to be using this period to offload their properties. 

“As stated previously, what we have ahead of us is only a modest to moderate housing recovery. 

Christopher says the strongest cities out there “are by far Sydney, Perth and Darwin”. 

SQM expects Perth to slow down later this year.

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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