The number of properties being advertised for sale across the nation is much lower than it was a year ago.  Looking at the data, it indicates that the reduction in properties for sale is largely being driven by the regional housing markets rather than the capital cities.

CoreLogic counts properties for sale each week based on a rolling 28 day count.  The data is split between new listings, re-listings and total listings.  New listings are properties that we haven’t previously seen listed for sale over the past three month, re-listings are properties that have been listed for sale at least twice over the past three months and the sum of the two is total listings.

At a national level over the week ending 16/07/2017 there were 37,849 new listings over the past 28 days and 219,039 total listings.  New listings were 2.3% higher than a year ago while total listings were -6.0% lower.  Across the combined capital cities there were 23,138 new listings which was 5.7% higher than a year ago and 101,443 total listings which was -0.4% lower than a year ago.  Overall new listings are higher than a year ago and total listings are lower.  However, when comparing the capital city and national listing figures it indicates that new listings are being driven higher primarily by capital city markets while total listings are lower fueled by falls in stock across regional housing markets.

The charts we have provided highlight the number of properties advertised for sale at specific points in time over each of the past six years.  The current growth phase commenced in June 2012 so showing six calendar years provides an indication of stock levels before growth commenced and how that has evolved throughout the value growth phase.

Taking a look across the individual capital cities there are some dramatic differences in the number of properties available for sale relative to recent years.

Sydney

Vendors have become more active across Sydney with new listing numbers rising almost 17% compared with a year ago while total advertised stock levels across Sydney have risen to 21,300; 13.3% higher than the same time a year ago.  Sydney’s advertised stock levels are now higher than they have been over the preceding three years, providing buyers with more choice and potentially less urgency in their decision making.

Melbourne

There are more vendors bringing their properties to the market currently with new listings up 10.8% from last year to 7,091 while there are 27,191 total properties listed for sale which is 0.1% higher than a year ago.  Although both new and total listings are higher than they were last year, they are both lower than they were in 2015.

Brisbane

There are currently 3,906 new and 19,547 total properties advertised for sale across the city.  New listings are -2.9% lower than a year ago and at their lowest level for this time of year since 2013.  Total listings are -1.3% lower than they were a year ago however, they are higher than the preceding three years.

Adelaide

Over the past 28 days there were 1,792 new and 8,116 total properties advertised for sale in the city.  New listings are slightly higher (1.9%) than they were a year ago while total listings are 0.6% higher than last year and at their highest level for this time of year since 2013.

Perth

The city currently has 3,028 new and 20,476 total properties advertised for sale.  The number of new properties advertised for sale is -12.9% lower than a year ago and at its lowest level for this time of year since 2012.  The total number of properties advertised for sale remains elevated however, there are -10.7% fewer properties available for sale relative to last year despite total listings being higher than each of the other previous years shown.

Hobart

There are currently 324 newly advertised properties for sale in the city.  The number of new listings is 10.2% higher than a year ago however, new listings are lower than they were in each of the years between 2012 and 2015.  There are 1,271 total properties listed for sale in Hobart which is -29.2% lower than at the same time a year ago.  There has been an ongoing decline in the number of properties for sale in Hobart over recent years with total listings -62.6% lower than they were at the same time in 2012.

Darwin

Over the past four weeks there were 192 new properties advertised for sale and 1,640 total properties listed for sale.  The number of new properties for sale is 13.6% higher than a year ago but lower than each of the four years previous to last year.  Total listings are marginally higher than a year ago (0.2%) and higher than each of the years since 2012.  In fact, total listings are 62.9% higher than they were in 2012.

Canberra

Over the past 28 days there were 580 newly advertised properties for sale which was 33.6% higher than at the same time last year.  New property listings are currently higher than they were at this time each year since 2012.  The last four weeks has seen 1,872 total properties advertised for sale in Canberra which is 14.8% higher than a year ago.  Although total listings are higher than a year ago, they remain lower than they were in each year from 2012 to 2015.

In the markets that have seen very strong value growth over recent year, Sydney and Melbourne, there are significantly more new properties coming to the market relative to last year.  This could be an indication of some concern that the market is (or has) moving through its peak.  For the first time in a number of years Sydney buyers have a relatively larger pool of properties to choose from.  Brisbane and Adelaide are seeing fairly similar levels of stock on the market relative to recent years.  In Perth and Darwin stock for sale remains elevated however, while new and total stock is falling relative to last year in Perth, total listings continue to climb in Darwin.  Hobart has seen a significant reduction in stock available for sale which is driving buyer urgency and supporting the value growth which is currently occurring.  Finally in Canberra more stock is coming to the market which is leading to a slight lift in the total number of properties available for sale.

Cameron Kusher
Head of Research CoreLogic