Where are homes selling the quickest?

Where are homes selling the quickest?
Cameron KusherDecember 7, 2020

With property buyer competition intensifying as result of more than 12 months of buoyant property market conditions, on average, houses took 80 days to sell while units were taking 75 days over 12 months to March 2014.

For the same period in 2013, houses took 94 days to sell and units took 88 days. Although the typical selling time for both houses and units has reduced, at a national level it remains quite elevated.

Aacross the individual capital cities the annual average time on market has generally fallen over the year.

The cities to record the shortest time on market for houses were Perth at 54 days and Sydney at 59 days. In contrast, the cities to record the longest days on market were Hobart with 90 days and Darwin with 86 days. For units, Sydney at 49 and Perth 56 recorded the shortest days on market, while Hobart and Darwin shared the longest days on market at 96.

At a broader level, council areas where of the top 25 listed for houses, Bassendean in Perth had the shortest average number of days on the market over the year at 32 days. Across each of the council areas listed there has been a fall in the average number of days on the market over the past year.

Turning the focus to the unit market, the trends are similar to those found across houses. All of the areas with the shortest average days on market are within a capital city and all of them are within Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.

Once again, the Perth council area of Bassendean recorded the shortest average number of days on market for units with 27 days; a significant drop from 74 days at the same time a year ago. Across the capital cities, 18 of the 25 areas listed were in Sydney with one Melbourne region listed and the remaining six regions located within Perth.

The fall in average time on market at a national level is a clear sign that the amount of sales is picking up and sellers are becoming more empowered at the time of negotiation.

If there is less scope for negotiation and discounting, you will typically find that a property sells quicker which is the scenario currently at play.

Today’s time-on-market data release also highlights the geographic dispersion of the stronger housing market conditions where in particular, capital cities are generally experiencing a faster rate of sale. This is reflected in the data which shows that selling conditions have been much stronger in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

With mortgage rates tipped to remain low for some time yet it is reasonable to expect that we are likely to see a further lowering of the average days on market. There is evidence which suggests peak capital growth conditions have passed in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth so in 12 months’ time the list of fastest selling council areas could look quite different as buyers broaden their horizons and look for opportunities outside of these centres.

Cameron Kusher

Cameron Kusher is senior research analyst at CoreLogic RP Data.

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