National residential property listings increase in March; SQM Research
Data released by SQM Research reveals that national residential property listings increased in March 2020 by 3.7%, up from 296,770 in February to 307,847.
Compared to 12 months ago, listings were down by 13.2%.
All capital cities experienced increases in property listings over the month with the largest increase in Darwin of 15.6%, followed closely by Canberra with a 11.0% increase and Sydney a 10.5% increase. Hobart had the smallest increase of 2.4% increase in listings.
Listings that have been on the market for between 30 to 60 days surged by 74%, suggesting sales activity did slow during March.
Year-on-year listings show declines for all capital cities with Sydney recording a significant decline of 22.8% and Hobart an 18.5% decline this time last year.
Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research said, “residential property listings are starting to increase and accumulate. I note the surge of stock that has been on the market between 30 and 60 days. This may reflect the start of a capital city housing market downturn due to the health and economic impact of COVID-19. I also note though the rise in asking prices for the month, so quite a number of vendors have not really adjusted their pricing expectations as yet.”
Capital City asking prices increased by 0.7% for houses and increased 0.6% for houses, over the month to 31st March 2020. Unit asking prices are now at $577,000 and houses $990,500.
Compared to a year ago, the capital city asking prices posted increases of 8.8% for houses and 2.1% increase for units.
Over the month, most capital cities recorded asking price increases, with Darwin and Hobart both recording the highest increases for houses of 3.1%. Highest price increase in units was Sydney and Perth with 0.8% increase.