By Leith van Onselen

As shown above, listings fell across all markets in August. However, over the year listings rose sharply in Perth (+10%) and Darwin (+21.1%), and also rose moderately in Adelaide (+2.2%).

Commenting on the results, Managing Director of SQM Research, Louis Christopher, noted:

“It is another surprise result and a reversal of the surge in listings during July. Normally listings start to rise in August ahead of the spring selling season. We will wait until the September reading before drawing too many new conclusions on the market.”

Asking prices for Sydney houses continued to climb over August, with a total monthly rise of 1.2% for houses and 0.7% for units. The median asking price for a Sydney unit has now reached $630,300, whereas the median Sydney house asking price is now a staggering $1,124,500, according to SQM Research.

By contrast, median asking prices have fallen in Perth, Canberra and Hobart over the past 12 months, and are mixed in Darwin (houses up slightly, but units down heavily):

Stock on market retraces in August