Louis Christopher reports on a decline in sales listings and the stability of asking prices in his SQM Research report.
SQM Research has released figures this week to show that national residential property listings decreased over April by 4.9 per cent from 307,847 listings in March to 292,775.
Compared to 12 months ago, listings were down by 11.9 per cent.
"All capital cities experienced decreases in property listings over the month except for Canberra which posted a marginal 0.4 per cent increase," said SQM Research founder, Louis Christopher.
At a Glance:
"The largest decrease was in Perth with an 8.4 per cent decrease, followed by Sydney at 7.2 per cent and Adelaide and Darwin both posted 6.0 per cent decreases in property listings.
"Hobart had the smallest decrease of 4.3 per cent in listings."
Mr Christopher said year-on-year listings show more significant declines for all capital cities with Sydney recording a decline of 19.4 per cent, followed by Darwin with a 17.7 per cent decline and Perth a 17.4 per cent decline this time last year.
"We confirm there was a large fall in new listings recorded over the course of April which impacted every capital city," said Mr Christopher.
"We also note the surge in older listings, particularly for properties that have been on the market between 30 to 60 days.
Source: SQM Research
"This tells me that sellers struggled to sell their properties over April and new sellers deferred listing."
The housing market has clearly been weakened by the coronavirus and the restrictions placed on the economy to limit the outbreak.
With the lifting some restrictions over the course of May, Mr Christopher said we could see a lift in buyer activity for housing; however many issues persist such as the spike in unemployment and the ongoing closure of the international border.
Asking Prices
SQM Research went further reporting on capital city asking prices which increased by 0.7 per cent for houses and increased 0.1 per cent for units, over the month to 5th May 2020.
Unit asking prices are now at $574,900 and houses $994,300.
Compared to a year ago, the capital city asking prices posted increases of 9.4 per cent for houses and 3.0 per cent increase for units.
At a Glance:
Over the month, some capital cities recorded marginal asking price increases, with the exception of Perth, Canberra and Hobart which all recorded declines for both houses and units.
Brisbane recorded the highest decline in house prices of 1.0 per cent over the month, followed by Perth 0.9 per cent, Hobart 0.7 per cent and Canberra 0.1 per cent decline in house prices.
Unit prices declined in Sydney by 0.6 per cent, Perth 0.5 per cent, Hobart 0.3 per cent and Canberra 0.1 per cent.
Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin were the only capital cities to record increases in both house and unit prices.
Strongest monthly growth was seen in Sydney house prices with a 1.1 per cent increase and Melbourne’s unit market which saw a 1.0 per cent increase.
Year on year, it was only Perth and Darwin that experienced declines in house and unit prices.
All other capital cities showed some strong growth this time last year where house prices rose 12.4 per cent in Sydney, 11.2 per cent in Melbourne and 12.0 per cent in Hobart.
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