- Unit stock levels in recovery
- National total stock low compared to pre-Covid
- New listings concentrated in investor markets, with some exceptions
The spring selling season is well and truly underway with property listings on the rise as lockdown restrictions begin to lift across the eastern states.
A rise of 28.2% has been observed in new listings across Australia, with 45,171 properties added to the market since the beginning of October.
However, CoreLogic is asking the crucial question – are these new listings in places in demand, or are vendors taking advantage of the low supply to offload properties without much interest?
Unit stock on an uptick
Detached houses have been in high demand during the Covid pandemic, selling faster than units, and seeing prices soar in capital cities and regions offering coastal and lifestyle benefits.
71.1% of the listings added to the market since the beginning of the month were houses, down compared to the 74.0% five-year average.
House listings this month are up 24%, however still -5.5% lower than the pre-COVID five-year average. House values across Australia have risen in the last year due to their popularity, with an increase of 22.9% in September.
Numbers of unit listings are on an uptick again following their decline, surpassing house listings at an 11.2% increase compared to the pre-COVID five-year average. In the past four weeks alone, the number of unit listings rose by 39%.
Perhaps due to the increased supply, unit prices have not seen much change in the past year, increasing nominally by 12.%.
Rolling four-week count of new listings – houses versus units
Total stock levels dwindling
Despite the number of new listings seen to be recovering, national total listings are dwindling with low numbers of advertised stock.
The only exception to this, when compared to the pre-COVID five-year average, is Greater Melbourne, which had an increase of 1,478 listings.
Relative to the previous four-week count, Melbourne, Sydney and regional Victoria saw the most growth in listings. Regional Tasmania, Hobart and the ACT are the only other areas experiencing slight growth, while the rest of the nation observes a fall in listings.
Total listings as of 17 October
Listings concentrated in investor markets
Despite high demand for houses, new listings on the market seem to be concentrated in unit and investor markets across Sydney and Melbourne, bad news for owner occupiers on the property hunt.
This year has seen investor activity on the rise though, so the increase in supply across these sectors will be welcomed by some.
The rise in in listings in Melbourne has included suburbs with nominal value growth as compared to the Melbourne-wide increase of 15.0% over the past year. Melbourne’s Wyndham council and Stonington are such areas, only increasing by 5.8% and 8.3% in dwelling values respectively.
Despite listings being concentrated in areas with investor demand, there is a surprising jump in listings across some of the more popular owner occupier areas.
The Mornington Peninsula and Sydney’s Northern Beaches are in high demand, with property values increasing by 35.3% and 37.2% respectively in the past year. Prospective buyers now have the opportunity to get into these sought after areas with listings increasing in the past four weeks by 261 and 112 campaigns respectively.
Newcastle and Wollongong have also been granted a fresh supply of stock to support the popularity of the areas, however along with most popular and coastal markets, supply is well-below historic baselines.
According to CoreLogic, new listings will continue to rise following the trends of previous years, and then are expected to decline again in mid-to-late November.
