Melbourne drives big rise in property listings

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SQM Research has released its stock on market data for October, which revealed that for sale listings nationally rose by 6.5% in October driven by a whopping 26.7% surge in Melbourne as the city eased restrictions on home auctions and inspections:

Over the year to October, listings declined by 3.3% nationally despite strong rises across Melbourne (+22.0%) and Sydney (+13.6%).

Nationally, new listings (30 days) increased ballooned by 27.45% over October with 17,154 more properties on the market. Melbourne posted a huge increase in new listings of 322.6%. Hobart posted a 44.0% increase, Canberra a 15.6% increase and Sydney a
12.7% increase in new listings:

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According to SQM Research managing director, Louis Christopher:

“It seems like we are moving back to the usual spring selling season with all capital city listings rising in October. Melbourne in particular, has bounced back in a big way after the relaxing of Stage 4 restrictions. In fact, we are expecting another big rise in listings during the month of November for Melbourne.”

CoreLogic has also recorded a sharp increase in new listings driven by Melbourne, although total listings continue to track at record lows:

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As noted by CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless:

Despite a surge in new listing numbers, total advertised inventory levels remain close to record lows. The number of new listings added to the Australian housing market over the past four weeks rose by 25.2%, while total stock levels grew by less than 1%. This trend was most exemplified by Melbourne, where new listings numbers increased almost fivefold as lockdown restrictions eased, while total advertised stock levels were only 38.2% higher.

Persistently low total stock levels in the face of surging new listing numbers point to a strong rate of absorption, as buyer demand exceeds advertised supply levels.

Home sales were also higher through October with CoreLogic estimating a 7.0% rise in home sales nationally over the month.

Low stock levels are a key reason why the smaller capitals are leading the price rebound.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.