The latest property investment research has revealed a significant drop in the number of residential property listings across the country for September, accompanied by a rise in the asking prices for houses in Sydney and Melbourne.
According to figures released by SQM Research, national residential property listings fell by 4 per cent in September compared to August 2019 and was down 6.9 per cent compared to September 2018.
During September, Hobart experienced the highest decrease in the number of property listings (6.4 per cent), followed by Melbourne and Perth (5.8 per cent) and Sydney (5.7 per cent). The city with the lowest decrease in property listings was Canberra (1.1 per cent).
Sydney had the biggest decline in the number of property listings year-on-year, with a drop of 20.4 per cent. This was followed by Perth and Darwin with both recording a yearly decrease of 9 per cent.
The research also revealed the asking prices for property in capital cities had increased marginally during September 2019, up by 1.5 per cent for houses and 1.4 per cent for units. Compared to 12 months ago, capital city asking prices overall showed a slight decline of 0.1 per cent for houses and 0.7 per cent for units.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart recorded increases in the asking price for houses and units for September. In addition, the latest figures showed the current median house prices in Sydney and Melbourne had risen to $1.3 million and $960,000 respectively.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said: “September’s decline in listings was an abnormal result. Listings normally rise for the first month of the spring selling season. New listings did rise. It’s just that older listings recorded a large decline. It suggests stock is being absorbed at a quicker rate.”
“Turning to Sydney, the evidence, by way of the fall in listings, the rise in auction clearance rates and the accelerated rise in asking prices, all suggest that the city has indeed entered into a new housing boom. Melbourne is not that far behind the mark as well.
“I think we can expect to record rapid rises in dwelling prices for our two largest cities at least in the December quarter and likely beyond.”
Property listings had dropped 2.8 per cent in July with Sydney recording a 7.6 per cent decline during that month.
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