As winter looms real estate agent activity starts to ease: RP Data

The RP Data listings index has started to ease from its seasonal peak over recent weeks.

The index peaked at 308.4 points over the week ending 24 March, which was its highest level since March 2011.

Since that time there has been a clear easing of the index.

The recent strong ramp up in the index foreshadowed an uplift in the number of new properties being brought to market.

Over the two most recent weeks, the first of which included Easter, there has been a sharp decline in pre-listing activity and subsequently a decline in listings.

The big test of market conditions will be whether the additional supply which has recently been added to themarket will be absorbed in a timely manner.

RP Data is currently tracking 286,630 properties available for sale across the country which is 1.2% higher than at the same time last year however, it is -1.0% lowerthan the amount of stock for sale four weeks ago.

The RP Data Property Index provides a lead indicator for the number of residential dwellings that are being prepared for sale across the Australian housing market. 

RP Data customers account for over 70% of all listings in the Australian property market.

The index, which tracks the flow of metadata across RP Data’s real estate data platform, shows a 75% correlation with the number of new listings about to enter the market.

The RPI was launched in February 2013.