New data reveals the suburbs with the biggest increases in asking prices over the past 12 months – and an industry figure is arguing that asking prices, as opposed to sales figures, depict a much clearer picture of how a suburb is performing.
Australian Property Investor editor, Lauren Day has said when "sold" signs begin appearing around a suburb, it is often too late to draw conclusions, and chances are the market has already shifted.
“You need to demand a certain price to obtain a certain figure, and sellers usually start asking for higher prices as confidence increases.
“So while you can’t have higher asking prices without higher sales, you also can’t have higher sales prices without higher asking prices.”
Tracking asking prices is also a good way to determine when the market is overheating, and sellers are becoming greedy, according to Day. Day said this is already happening in Sydney as the city’s property market booms.
“So far this year, vendors have had some difficulty in lifting their asking prices above and beyond what they were able to achieve at Christmas. It means the market is still very active but buyers are becoming a bit more discerning.”
The suburbs with the biggest increases in asking prices include Stanmore and Petersham in New South Wales, Unley and Newton in South Australia, South Yarra, La Trobe and Richmond in Victoria, Mosman Park in Western Australia and Gordon and South Hobart in Tasmania. The data was provided by SQM Research for Australian Property Investor.
