- New year brings heightened property market activity, recording more listings nationwide compared to last year.
- Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, and Canberra experience notable increases in new property listings, marking busy starts.
- Despite varied trends across states, overall property listings increase, providing buyers with improved options nationwide.
The new year kicked off with a burst of listings activity, recovering from the end-of-year break to record more listings in January than the same time last year, according to the PropTrack Listings Report January 2024.
Listings galore in most capitals
Nationally, new listings on realestate.com.au were up 12% year-on-year (YoY), indicating busier market conditions, together with a sluggish start to 2023.
“Property market activity resumed in January after the end-of-year break. Sydney and Melbourne experienced a particularly busy start to 2024 for new listings, while some other markets remain a bit more subdued,” said PropTrack senior economist and report author, Angus Moore.
Year-on-year change in new listings
Listings activity in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra increased at a swifter-than-rate. New listings in Sydney grew 27.7% YoY, the most active January for the capital since 2011.
On the other hand, new listings in Melbourne were up 27.8% YoY, an unparalleled month of busyness since 2008.
Hobart and Canberra saw a flurry of activity as well, with a 4.3% YoY and 13.2% YoY bump in listings, respectively. This also marked the busiest January ever for Canberra and since 2014 in Hobart.
Brisbane and Adelaide noted a slight rise in activity compared to 2023, at 4.8% and 9.9%, respectively. Conversely, Perth’s listings contracted by 0.4% this year than in January 2023.
Regional areas experienced a modest increase in activity compared to last year, up 4.7%.
Monthly new for sale listings trends (capital cities versus rest of state)
Regional New South Wales (NSW) and regional Victoria reported robust YoY gains in activity, up 12.3% and 8.4% respectively, while new listings declined in regional Queensland by 5.2%.
Better month for buyers
The influx of new properties in January helped improve choice for buyers across the nation. The total properties listed for sale across January on realestate.com.au lifted by 1.2% month-on-month (MoM), a 4.5% increase from last year.
Indeed, buyers in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Hobart had a better variety of options, with the total properties listed for sale in these cities being above, or within, 10% of the past decade average.
However, the gains were not across the board, as the total number of properties listed for sale in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth declined by over 40% relative to the previous decade’s average.
Market hopeful that interest rate cuts will occur later this year
“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,” Moore said.
“After raising interest rates in November, the Reserve Bank of Australia (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. Instead, financial markets are now expecting a reasonable chance that interest rates will decline later in the year.”
