Property listings rose in September by 3%: SQM Research
Residential listings across Australia rose in September 2017 by 3.1% with stock levels rising in most capital cities, led by a jump in Sydney and Melbourne, according to SQM Research’s latest figures.
Despite the rise in listings to 328,751, asking prices for homes rose during the month for all capital cities including the two largest cities, indicating that sellers have not yet adjusted to the slower market, the firm said.
Sydney’s housing market continued to rise year on year, with listings up by 12.3%, the biggest increase of any capital city.
However, national residential property listings were down by 5.4%, with Hobart recording the biggest fall of -25.5% and Melbourne (-12.9%).
“We know policy makers including the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) have been very focused on slowing the Sydney housing market down. To this end, it appears their efforts have worked,” said Louis Christopher, managing director at SQM Research.
“I think more and more sellers are coming to the market hoping to sell at the peak, or close to it. Yet they are coming to the market with very lofty pricing expectations, hence we have seen auction clearance rates fall and days on market increase. There will be many disappointed sellers in Sydney by the end of this spring selling season.”
Elsewhere, Hobart was the only capital city to record falls in listings for the month, falling by 3.9%, which suggests ongoing booming market conditions for the city. Perth and Adelaide are now recording year-on-year declines in listings, falling by 3.5% and 2.6% respectively.
Capital city asking prices rose 0.6% for houses and 0.2% for units for the month. The largest monthly rise came from Perth houses, rising by 1.3%. Hobart units recorded the largest monthly fall of 0.7%.
Annual growth in asking house prices has slowed in Melbourne from around 22% last month, to around 20% for the 12 months ended October 3, while growth in Sydney has slowed to just below 10%.