Property listings increase in May: SQM Research

National residential property listings increased month-on-month in May by 3.9%, according to figures released by SQM Research.

Total listings rose to 304,137, up from 292,775 in April.

Compared to 12 months ago however, listings were down by 12.0%.

All capital cities experienced increases in property listings over the month, except for Canberra which posted a 0.8% decrease.

The largest listings increase was in Melbourne and Sydney, with growth of 11.6% and 10.9% respectively.

Hobart also recorded a large increase of 7.8%.

Year-on-year listings show more significant declines for all capital cities with Perth recording a 20.0% decline, followed by Darwin with a 18.8% decline, and Hobart a 15.8% decline (compared to this time last year).

“Overall, there was a rise in listings at the national level, driven by older stock not selling,” SQM Research Managing Director, Louis Christopher.

“We have recorded a 12% increase in listings of over 60 days. This tells me it is a patchy market with vendors struggling to meet their pricing expectations.”

“New listings actually fell for the month at the national level, which is abnormal for May.”

Meanwhile, capital city average asking prices increased by 0.5% for houses and decreased 0.1% for units, over the month to 2nd June 2020.

Unit asking prices are now at $573,300 and houses $997,400.

Compared to a year ago, the capital city asking prices posted increases of 10.2% for houses and 2.5% increase for units.

The figures showed that most capital cities recorded marginal asking price increases however, Sydney’s unit prices declined by 0.4%.

Brisbane, Darwin and Hobart’s house prices also all recorded declines of 0.3%, 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively.

The strongest monthly growth was seen in Darwin, with unit prices seeing a 7.2% increase.

Hobart followed, with a 1.5% unit price increase, and Perth’s houses had a 1.2% increase.

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

All other capital cities recorded growth year on year, with Sydney recording a 13.7% house price increase, Melbourne recording an 11.9% house price increase, and Hobart recording a 10.0% house price increase compared to this time last year.