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PROPERTY LISTINGS SLIP IN MARCH
by Louis Christopher, CEO
Figures released today by SQM Research reveal national residential property listings fell in March 2021 by 0.5% to 256,568 from 257,952 in February 2021. Compared to 12 months ago, listings are down by 16.7%. The largest monthly decreases were in Canberra, while Melbourne, Perth and Darwin bucked the national trend and recorded rises in listings.
New Listings (30 days)
Nationally, new listings (30 days) (less than 30 days) rose 9.9% over the course of March to 84,030 properties on the market, to be up 10.7% over the year. Hobart new listings jumped the most in March, up by 14.7% though listings rose more than 10% for most cities. Sydney also recorded a robust rise of 9.2% in listings as people seek to take advantage of the strong property market. Over the year, listing rose the most in Darwin, by 58.5%.
In a sign that absorption rates are increasing, and stock is clearing, listings over 180 days fell 5.6% for the month and are down 32.5% compared to the same time last year, with listings down in all capital cities.
The property market is strong, and we can expect to see ongoing price gains this year. While overall listings fell, absorption rates continued to increase, so we saw overall property listings fall slightly over March, as they did in February; demand for property is still outstripping supply.
While JobKeeper has ended, absorption rates may slow a little, but the Australian economy remains awash with cash and with interest rates so low, we are likely to see sustained growth in property prices for the months to come, unless the regulators step in to cool the market, which is unlikely with COVID-19 still lurking in economies.
Asking Prices
Over the past 30 days to 6 April, national asking prices rose by 0.8% for houses and 0.6% for units. Over the year, growth in asking house prices is higher in smaller cities, led by Hobart, with robust rises in prices also recorded in Brisbane and Adelaide.
Compared to a year ago, national asking prices posted increases of 9.8% for houses and 6.6% for units. Regional locations have pushed up the national average as buyers move out of the big cities and renters too become homeowners, helped on by government incentives. In contrast, capital city asking house prices rose only slightly over the year to 6 April, while unit asking prices are down by 1.8%, led by falls in asking prices for Sydney units of 5.4%, reflecting an oversupply of accommodation.
AUCTION RESULTS for week ending 28 February 2021
Full individual auction results can be found on our website:
AUCTION LISTINGS* for week ending 11 April 2021
* The above counts of auctions represent most recent known auction dates for the coming week.
DISTRESSED PROPERTY OF THE WEEK
949/243 Pyrmont Street Pyrmont NSW 2009
This apartment in Pyrmont right next to the Sydney CBD has spent some time on the market as the vendor readjusts their expectations given the oversupply of units in the district. The price has dropped to $595,000 from an initial asking price of $619,000 in June 2019.
With views over the Sydney CBD and Darling Harbour, the apart is well positioned on the ninth level of the Goldsbrough building. It is a modern airy apartment building with full resort facilities and 24-hour concierge service that could suit an owner occupier or investor.
But before you take the plunge, let's look at the numbers. Asking property prices for units in the 2009 postcode are down 7.2% over the year to 6 April 2021, and haven't risen in 10 years, so you might want to haggle some more. Sold records for the 2009 postcode indicate the apartment's price isn't far off from comparable sales for one-bedroom units.
However, asking weekly rents for units have fallen by around 9.3% over the last 12 months to 4 April. The fall in rents may be explained by the high vacancy rate of 4.4%, though that is down from a COVID-19 crisis high of around 10% in May last year. Weekly rent listings have been falling since May 2020, so it looks as if the oversupply in rental accommodation could be stabilising.
Still, with the downward movement in property values, you might want to ask for a bigger discount to give yourself a greater margin of safety, and the vendor just might be prepared to give way some more away to sell this property.
You can monitor this market and others with SQM Research’s free property data. Also consider the SQM Property Explorer product for more in-depth data and property price estimator.
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