Despite falling property prices nationwide, the percentage of homes listed for sale in October under $600,000 has hit a record low, according to new data.
The PropTrack Market Insight Report for October 2022 has found the share of properties newly listed for sale on realestate.com.au for less than $600,000 was at a record low of 35.8%, down sharply from 52.5% in March 2020, the start of the pandemic.
The property data and analysis firm owned by REA Group said the decline in lower priced new listings comes despite the falls in national home prices over recent months.
PropTrack director economic research Cameron Kusher (pictured above) said there was a divergence between houses and units between this timeframe.
“For units, the change has been marginal, declining from 59.2% of new listings to 52.3%,” Kusher said. “However, the decline in the share of new listings under $600,000 since the onset of the pandemic has been much greater in regional areas (71.2% to 45.6%) than it has been across capital cities (42.5% to 30.6%).”
Kusher said the rising cost of housing since the onset of the pandemic had significantly reduced the supply of new listings coming to market under $600,000.
“Prices have now fallen each month since March 2022, however, the share of new listings under $600,000 has continued to decline,” he said. “The share of new house listings under $600,000 has more than halved since the start of the pandemic in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and regional NSW.”
Kusher said only 1.8% of Sydney homes listed for sale were priced under $600,000, while Canberra recorded the smallest share in the country at only 1.4%.
“As prices continue to fall, we may see more properties coming on to the market at lower price points, however, it seems unlikely that we’ll see a significant uplift in the share of new listings under $600,000, which highlights ongoing affordability challenges,” he said.
“Brisbane home prices have been impacted quite significantly also. In March 2020, 63.9% of dwellings listed were priced $600,000 or below compared to October 2022 at 37.9%. As did Hobart, which was sitting at 68.2% at the beginning of the pandemic, now only one in three homes (33.8%) are listed at $600,000 or below.”
PropTrack reported new property listings were down 7.5% month-on-month nationally during September, meaning the normal spring selling season had far from sprung.
Only two capital cities recorded an increase in property listings during the first month of spring – Canberra (+0.5%) and Darwin (+2%). The volume of properties listed for sale in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra was above the prior decade average, while in Hobart there had been a 72.1% year-on-year surge.
PropTrack economist Angus Moore said after a busy first half of the year and busier-than-typical winter, property markets had a slightly slower start to spring.
“The National Day of Mourning [for Queen Elizabeth II] and the AFL Grand Final public holiday likely delayed some vendors’ selling campaigns in September, with property market activity unseasonably slower than in August,” Moore said.
“While disruptions due to the public holidays likely played a part, selling conditions have tempered from their very strong levels earlier in the year. The slower month for new listings could be an indication that we are starting to see activity slow after a very busy first half of the year in property markets.”
