Australia’s residential property markets have started 2024 with a January jump-start bolstered by a spike in new listings.
The Sydney and Melbourne markets recorded their busiest start to a new year for more than a decade.
Nationally, the number of new listings jumped 12 per cent compared with January, 2023, according to the REA Group’s latest PropTrack Report.
The rise in listings reflected heightened market conditions, coupled with the slow start in 2023 when new listings fell by 9.3 per cent, the report said.
Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, and Canberra all had “a faster-than-typical start to the year”.
New listings in Sydney surged 27.7 per cent higher than at the same time last year and in Melbourne they rose 27.8 per cent year on year.
“That jump meant that Melbourne recorded its busiest January since 2008, and Sydney its busiest January since 2011,” the report said.
Activity was similarly strong in Darwin (up 24.2 per cent), Canberra (up 13.2 per cent), Hobart (up 4.3 per cent).
But the month was far more subdued in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
“While Brisbane and Adelaide saw a stronger start to the year than in 2023, the number of new listings (4.8 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively) was not unusual and, in Brisbane, was even a little quieter than typical,” the report said.
In contrast, Perth recorded slightly fewer new listings (down 0.4 per cent) this year than in January 2023.
“More activity in property markets than we were seeing in early 2023 is being supported by strong demand, very low unemployment, population growth, tight rental market conditions and a more stable outlook for interest rates,” PropTrack senior economist Angus Moore said.
“After raising interest rates in November, the RBA held steady in February—a widely anticipated decision.
“Inflation appears to be coming under control sooner than the RBA had initially anticipated.
“While there is a possibility of further interest rate increases if inflation turns out to be more entrenched than currently expected, financial markets are not expecting that will occur,” Moore said.
“Instead, financial markets are now expecting a reasonable chance that interest rates will decline later in the year.”
