By Leith van Onselen
On Friday, RP Data released its weekly Industry Market Wrap, which contained two interesting tables showing changes in the number of homes advertised for sale and rent.
The first table of homes for sale is below:
According to RP Data:
The number of newly advertised properties for sale continued to increase last week however, we are seeing fewer new listings enter the market compared with the same period last year (3.3% lower nationally and 9.1% lower across the capital cities). RP Data is currently tracking 300,994 properties for sale across the country and 143,254 properties across the capital cities. Throughout Australia, total listings are currently 27.7% higher than they were at the same time last year and 25.5% higher across the capital cities. With fewer new listings being added to the market and some stock being absorbed, the total number of homes now advertised for sale is -7.5% below the record highs of last year nationally and -11.7% below their peaks across the capital cities.
Taking a look at the breakdown, Queensland has the highest number of total listings (82,208), followed by New South Wales (80,010):
However, Victoria has experienced by far the largest increase in sales listings over the past year, with a 61% (25,972) increase in the number of homes for sale to 68,826. Importantly, all states and territories have experienced an increase in the number of sales listings:
Turning to the rental market, where RP Data provides the following table and commentary:
The number of newly advertised properties for rent increased over the past week across both the national and capital city markets. The number of new properties listed for rent is 19.2% higher than at the same time last year nationally and 18.9% higher across the combined capital cities. RP Data is currently tracking a total of 98,814 properties advertised for rent across the nation.
This time, Victoria is the leader with both the largest total number of properties for rent (29,870) as well as the largest increase compared with the same time last year out of the mainland states (an increase of 3,944 or 15%).
Rental stock levels are also quite elevated in Queensland (26,152), although they have come down by 1,139 or -4% compared with the same period last year.
New South Wales, which has for a long time had a relatively tight rental market, has experienced a 9% (2,019) increase in listings over the year to 24,704, which is a welcome development for struggling renters.
By contrast, Western Australia’s rental listings have fallen by -8% or 617 properties to only 7,440.
The smaller states and territories are a mixed bag, with South Australia’s and Tasmania’s rental listings increasing quite sharply compared to the same time last year and the territories’ listings falling sharply:
