Surge recorded for national residential property listings: SQM
Residential property listings nationwide rose 3.4 percent in February from January driven mainly by a 15.1 percent rise in Sydney listings, according to new figures from SQM Research.
Listings in Hobart, however fell 0.7 percent month on month. Sydney listings had a year-on-year rise of 18 percent and Melbourne recorded a yearly fall of 5.6%.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said listings normally rise at this time of year as the market fully opens up from the summer hiatus. The rise from Sydney however is well above normal seasonality and well above levels recorded this time last year.
"This is evidence of a slower Sydney market where it is taking longer to sell," he said.
"On the other hand, recording a decline at this time of year, as what has happened with Hobart, is also abnormal and is suggestive of a strong market made up of many buyers and fewer sellers.
"Year-on-year results indicate that residential property listings are up for most capital cities.
"Notably, property listings in Sydney and Darwin are considerably higher than this time last year (February 2015), with residential property listings climbing from 21,769 to 25,698. Darwin also experienced excessive yearly growth with sale listings up 12% based on a total 2,050 listings. These figures indicate that the number of property sellers in both residential markets has increased when adjusting for seasonality."
