The most recent data from SQM Research has shown residential real estate listings across the country fell by 5.8 per cent in January, landing at a total of 215,555 properties, down from the 228,415 recorded in December 2022.
The trend was driven by fewer listings in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, which experienced declines of 7.9 per cent, 7.1 per cent and 8.3 per cent respectively.
The most dramatic fall was among new residential property listings, defined as less than 30 days, experiencing a 19.6 per cent drop in January, representing the fifth lowest listing count since 2009 when the research house first started recording these statistics. Numerically this translated to 42,409 assets being listed.
By contrast, older listings, defined as those over 180 days, rose by 1.3 per cent during the opening month of 2023 and have now jumped by 23.1 per cent over the past 12 months.
This market movement means older listings now dominate the landscape, accounting for 28 per cent of the market, while new listings make up 20 per cent of the space.
SQM noted a smaller number of properties were being sold under distress as at 1 February, with the total being 6018 at the beginning of the month compared to the December 2022 figure of 6201. This outcome was a result of the number of distressed properties falling in both Queensland and Western Australia.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher noted the fall in listings during January did not come as a surprise, but pointed out a statistic that was significant.
“Attention should be given to the new listing counts, whereby there has been a 13.8 per cent fall in new listing activity compared to this time last year. Most property owners believe it is a bad time to sell right now and so are holding back, waiting for a housing market recovery,” Christopher said.
“There are very few forced sellers out there as our distressed listings index reveals, which indicates, thus far, a market under no great stress.”
The data showed asking prices for all dwellings nationwide remained fairly stable, decreasing by 0.1 per cent. Looking more granularly, asking prices for houses fell by 0.4 per cent, while units increased by 1.7 per cent.
From a dollar value perspective, the average asking price for a house as at 31 January 2023 was $828,233 and for a unit $505,172.
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