Disruptions from public holidays, including the National Day of Mourning and the AFL Grand Final, have likely delayed some vendors’ selling campaigns, with property markets experiencing a slower start to spring.
REA Group’s PropTrack Listings Report September 2022, a monthly report analysing new and total listings on realestate.com.au, found that new listings nationally were down 7.5% month-on-month in September, bringing new listings down 9.2% year-on-year.
The slower month meant there were fewer new listings in most capital cities in September compared to last year, with Canberra (+0.5%) and Darwin (+2%) recording small increases.
Despite a quieter month, buyers in most cities saw their options improve substantially over 2022, with the stock of properties listed for sale in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra above the prior decade average, while Hobart has seen a 72.1% year-on-year surge.
Angus Moore, PropTrack economist and report author, said that while the disruptions from the public holidays have likely played a part in the unseasonably slower property market activity in August, selling conditions have tempered from their very strong levels earlier in the year.
“The slower month for new listings could be an indication that we are starting to see activity slow after a very busy first half of the year in property markets. However, with only one month worth of data, and a public-holiday-affected month at that, it is too soon to be able to draw firm conclusions,” Moore said. “Home prices have continued to decline in most cities after growth hit multi-decade highs in 2021 and are now down 3.4% nationally from the peak in March.”
Moore noted that the Reserve Bank has continued to raise interest rates at a brisk pace with further hikes ahead over 2022, which will reduce borrowing capacities for would-be buyers and drag down prices in the near-term.
“Looking further ahead, the fundamental drivers of demand remain strong, with unemployment
very low, wages growth expected to pick up over this year, and international migration increasing,” he said.
