No big spring listings rush as stock on market hold steady in September: SQM
There was no big rush from vendors to list their properties for sale in the first month of the spring buying and selling season, according to online residential listings data compiled by SQM Research.
Total online residential listings remained steady during the month of September 2012 at 373,374, down 2.6% year-on-year.
However, the September figures suggest more active property markets in Perth, Sydney, Queensland and Darwin, where year-on-year listings are well down, while Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart have added to the stock of properties available for purchase over the same time frame.
Perth recorded a 3% month-on-month drop in listings from 18,053 in August to 17,517 in September, followed by Sydney, where listings fell by 2.9% to 30,408.
Perth listings are down 14.6% year-on-year, while Sydney listings are down 13.1% year-on-year.
Darwin listings fell 6.6% to 1,198 in September and are down 25.9% since September 2011 – the largest yearly decrease of all capital cities, though off a low listings base.
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SQM research director Louis Christopher said it was as strong result for those cities where listings declined and added that it was “unusual” for cities to record falls in listings during the opening month of spring.
“Either vendors have been withdrawing their properties at a faster rate than new listings entering into the market, or stock is being sold at a quicker rate. Or a combination of both,” said Christopher.
At the other end of the spectrum, Adelaide experienced the largest monthly increase, rising by 2.1% during September to come to a total of 17,091.
Melbourne recorded a net gain of 370 listings over September, a rise of 0.7% to take total online listings to 51,564, with listings up 3.2% over the past 12 months.
Brisbane recorded a small 0.6% gain in online listings to 28,837, but listings are down 8% year-on-year.
Hobart listings were down a modest 0.4% over September to 4,371 but the Tasmanian capital has by far the inactive or stagnant property market with online listings up 21.5% since September 2011.