The number of Australian residential property sale listings abnormally decreased over September, signalling rapid stock level absorption.
Research conducted by SQM Research revealed the number of unsold properties on the market in September decreased 2.4% from last month and decreased 1.1% from this time last year.
Managing director of SQM Research, Louis Christopher says this decrease is contrary to the usual spring trend which sees an influx of new property listings.
“The falls recorded in September are abnormal as listings normally rise at the start of spring. It implies the market remains strong, particularly on the East Coast of Australia with buyers swooping on stock, often before the properties are formally listed for sale.”
All capital cities recorded monthly decreases in stock, excepting Darwin which recorded a slight increase at 0.2%.
Sydney is leading the charge, with substantial decreases both on a monthly and yearly basis, which coincides with SQM Research’s predictions that this capital city would be the front-runner in 2014 housing recovery, and continue to be into 2015.
Alongside this, the nation’s asking prices have perked up over the past month, with asking prices for houses rising by 0.7% and asking prices for units rising by 0.5% during September.
This latest research adds further fuel to the concern over Australia’s drastic housing supply shortage.
