Residential property listings decrease nationwide in April: SQM Research

Residential property listings decrease nationwide in April: SQM Research
Staff ReporterDecember 8, 2020

Australian residential property listings decreased in April by 4.9%, according to the latest figures released by SQM Research.

Overall listings nationwide were at 292,775, down from 307,847 properties listed in March 2020.

Compared to 12 months ago, listings were down by 11.9%.

Canberra was the only capital city which did not experience a decrease in property listings, posting a small 0.4% increase.

The largest decrease was in Perth with an 8.4% retraction, followed by Sydney at 7.2%.

Adelaide and Darwin both posted 6.0% decreases in property listings.

Hobart had the smallest decrease of 4.3% in listings.

Year-on-year listings show more significant declines for all capital cities with Sydney recording a decline of 19.4%, followed by Darwin with a 17.7% decline and Perth a 17.4% decline this time last year.

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The report found that the housing market “has clearly been weakened by the coronavirus and the restrictions placed on the economy to limit the outbreak.”

“With the lifting some restrictions over the course of May, we could see a lift in buyer activity for housing; however many issues persist such as the spike in unemployment and the ongoing closure of the international border,” the firm added.

Clearance times have, however, stayed remarkably steady.

In April 41.52% of properties sold in 90 days or less, while that figure was 41.16% in March.

This is slightly up from 12 months ago, when 40.28% of homes sold within the same time frame.

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Meanwhile, capital city asking prices increased by 0.7% for houses and increased 0.1% for units, over the month to 5th May 2020.

Unit asking prices are now at $574,900 and houses $994,300.

Compared to a year ago, the capital city asking prices posted increases of 9.4% for houses and 3.0% increase for units.

Over the month, some capital cities recorded marginal asking price increases, with the exception of Perth, Canberra and Hobart which all recorded declines for both houses and units.

Brisbane recorded the highest decline in house prices of 1.0% over the month, followed by Perth 0.9%, Hobart 0.7% and Canberra 0.1% decline in house prices.

Unit prices declined in Sydney by 0.6%, Perth 0.5%, Hobart 0.3% and Canberra 0.1%.

Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin were the only capital cities to record increases in both house and unit prices.

Strongest monthly growth was seen in Sydney house prices with a 1.1% increase and Melbourne’s unit market which saw a 1.0% increase.

Year on year, it was only Perth and Darwin that experienced declines in house and unit prices.

All other capital cities showed some strong growth this time last year where house prices rose 12.4% in Sydney, 11.2% in Melbourne and 12.0% in Hobart.

 

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