Top end sales have slowed: Ray White's Brian White

Top end sales have slowed: Ray White's Brian White
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

A slowdown in Australia’s east coast capital city property markets could be due to fewer top end sales, according to Ray White chairman Brian White.

He was referring to preliminary figures from property researcher CoreLogic showing a 1.1 percent fall in dwelling values across an index of five capital cities during May.

The weak result was largely due to a fall in Sydney and Melbourne values over the month, according to CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless.

Brian Wgite reckons said the data showing average movements masked the performance.

“We have noticed fewer of the top end properties being sold,” Mr White told The Australian.

“Generally really expensive properties tend to be marketed in summer … people say, the garden’s in full bloom, my house is going to look a lot better.”

Stock levels had been lower than usual since the start of the year, and listings were lower than a year ago, he said.

Lawless says the month might not be as weak as it seemed once seasonal factors were taken into account.

Brain White recently advised his network's April figures were down on April last year.

"After our record-breaking March, and amidst so much commentary ‘talking down’ the market, our group result of $3.55 billion was a respectable figure, although slightly down on our corresponding month in 2016," he said.

Victoria continues its strong run, seeing 15 per cent growth on last year.

"All other markets experienced softer overall conditions, though still achieving a number of remarkable sales and strong auction clearance numbers."

Delving into our listings and stock data, the average listings per agent was up 11 per cent across Australia and New Zealand, indicating a more balanced market.

White noted April was a disrupted trading month with many public holidays, so he advised it was difficult to gauge if the strong positive momentum of the market is changing.

"All eyes are on May, traditionally one of our strongest months, to give us a better picture," White said.

March had set a new blistering record of $4.7 billion for the Ray White network in unconditional sales highlighting the "remarkable strength of the Australiasian property markets that recovered so strongly after the GFC of the late 2000s."

"Sydney was a stand out but the same goes for Melbourne and Auckland.

"We are claiming “green shoots” in the Western Australian market," Brian White noted.

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