National Property Listings’ Rise Softer Than Hoped

Property listings rose more than 7 per cent in March on the previous month, according to the latest data from SQM Research, but it hasn’t been the rebound the market needs.

Listings nationally were 249,404 homes last month, up by 7.9 per cent from 231,039 in February.

Nationally, combined home asking prices fell 1.2 per cent over the month, however, Sydney bucked that with prices rising 1.8 per cent month-on-month.

New listings (less than 30 days on the market) increased by 6.8 per cent in March with 75,799 added to the market, while listings greater than 180 days old rose by 4.6 per cent to more than 65,633 homes.

Distressed property listings increased by 5.1 per cent but still remain at benign levels, according to SQM. 

All cities recorded a rise in total listings for the month—Sydney was up 9.2 per cent, while Melbourne and Adelaide also recorded solid rises of 9.6 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively.

March’s listings were 14.2 per cent up on the same time last year. Hobart’s listings rose 100.4 per cent while Canberra also experienced a significant rise of 26.3 per cent.

However Perth had minor year-on-year declines in residential property listings, down 2.1 per cent.

SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said that March had recorded a combination of rising newer listings as well as a build-up of older stock not selling.

“There are now more property listings in the market than we recorded this time last year,” Christopher said.

“However, total listings remain well below long-term averages. On previous downturns, total listings for any given month would typically rise above 300,000 properties for sale.

“We are simply just not seeing those numbers in this cycle and it is one of the key reasons the housing market has not corrected more than feared.”

He said SQM had recorded ongoing weakness in the regions’ asking prices and that it was apparent Melbourne vendors still lacked some confidence.

“However, Sydney property sellers actually lifted their asking prices last month. And one only does that when there are more buyers in the market,” Christopher said.