As shown above, for sale listings rose by 5.2% in May with rises recorded across all capital cities. However, on a year-on-year basis, listings are down by 1.8%, with all capitals except Brisbane and Perth recording falls.
SQM Research believes the large monthly rise in listings is mostly seasonal and due to “the five Fridays in May as opposed to the usual four, meaning an extra week to gather listings making for a larger sample”, which when taken into account suggests “stagnation in stock levels, and that the frenzy in the market that was in play during the corresponding period in 2013 is dissipating”.
Meanwhile, SQM’s Asking Prices Index has recorded monthly growth of 0.4% and -0.1% respectively for houses and units (see below), which “are a continuation of what occurred in the month preceding (April 2013), and SQM Research can now safely begin to assume that the market may well be entering into a potential lull”.
According to SQM managing director, Louis Christopher:
“Some heat has come out of the national housing market as SQM Research is no longer recording the large scale, year on year decreases in listings that was occurring this time last year. Right now, it appears to be a market that is steady and not too strong yet not too weak. At this stage I don’t believe the market is at the point where an upward pressure would be placed on interest rates.”
