Residential listings jump in November: SQM Research

National residential listings jumped 7.9% in November 2018 with the expected seasonal uptick in stock on market, according to SQM Research.

Listings rose across every capital city, growing from 335,014 in October to 361,619 in November.

The rise was just shy of national listing rise of 8.1 percent this time last year.

Sydney's property listings rose by 7.5% over the month to 39,772, the highest reading since 2009. Listings are up over 20% from a year ago in the harbour capital.

Melbourne saw a November spike of 11.6% to be over 32% higher than a year ago.

Hobart saw the highest stock level surge, rising 17.2% over the month, however down one percent from last November.

Canberra (12.5%), Adelaide (11.8%), Perth (9.7%) and Brisbane (8.4%) all saw strong listing increases.

Darwin, despite being some way off the rest, saw listings rise 4.4%, 

“We are also finally seeing some relief in Hobart, with listings jumping in November, helping to reverse a shortage of properties available for sale,” he said.

Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research, said a rise in listings is normal in November as people try sell properties before the year’s end.

An additional weekend made it into November rather than October, also helping to lift listings over the month.

“November listings usually jump ahead of the market slowing during the Christmas and New Year’s break, so the results are expected. That said, the year-on-year increases in Sydney and Melbourne are large. The market in these big cities is now flooded with stock. Vendors who do not price their properties realistically will not sell in this market. It has been a particularly bad spring selling season for vendors and agents alike,” Christopher said.

“We are also finally seeing some relief in Hobart, with listings jumping in November, helping to reverse a shortage of properties available for sale,” he said.

“It is also likely this will be the peak in listings for the year as we expect the December reading to fall given the Christmas break," he said.

Capital city average asking prices for houses fell to $932,600 while unit asking prices were steady at $569,300 over the month to December 4.

Asking house prices in Sydney dropped again, by 2.3% to $1.274 million, to be down 5.2% from a year earlier. Unit prices too fell by 1.0% to $696,000, reflecting the surplus of stock in Australia’s biggest city. 

Melbourne asking house prices rose 0.4% to $963,200, while unit prices were up 0.5% to $555,800. Canberra’s asking house prices in contrast rose by 0.8% over the month to $$836,500 be up 7.3% from a year ago, the greatest growth of any capital city.