Annual property sales hit highest level since 2004: CoreLogic

Not only have property prices taken off over the past year, the number of homes changing hands has hit the highest level since 2004.

Home transactions hit a 17 year high overv the past year. Picture : Nicki Connolly

Residential property turnover over the past year hit its highest levels since 2004 as Australians demand for property skyrocketed through the pandemic.

Property researcher CoreLogic estimates almost 598,000 houses and units exchanged hands over the year to the end of August, representing a 42 per cent annual jump to hit the highest number of annual sales in 17 years.

Despite record low listing numbers across the country, every state and territory apart from Tasmania recorded a lift of more than 10 per cent in year-on-year home sales, said CoreLogic’s research executive Tim Lawless.

Annual sales nationally were 31 per cent above the decade average and 24 per cent higher than the 20-year average.

“Such a significant surge in housing demand may seem surprising at a time when overseas migration has stalled, however the substantial rise in home sales can be explained by a lift in domestic demand from previously low levels,” Mr Lawless said.

“Housing turnover (annual home sales as a percentage of total dwellings) trended lower from late 2015 as credit conditions tightened, housing affordability became more challenging and transaction costs such as stamp duty became increasingly expensive as prices rose.”

Sales hit a record low in June 2019 following the federal election, with 3.7 per cent of total stock turned over.

While the so-called “ScoMo bounce” saw the market start to recover from it’s downturn soon after, Covid stopped it in its tracks. But pandemic support including the loosening of credit policies and reduction of mortgage rates to record lows helped to encourage more Australians to buy.

Prolonged lockdowns and affordability pressure hit the Victorian market, which recorded the second lowest rate of housing turnover over the past year, with 4.6 per cent of properties transacting over the past 12 months. It has also had the largest number of new properties come on over the past five years.

The state was only beaten by the Northern Territory (3.7 per cent), despite home sales surging almost 60 per cent over the past year through its recovery off of a very low baseline figure.

Queensland recorded the highest turnover, with 6.8 per cent of the market was sold over the year to August. It was the Sunshine State’s 12-months since the 2008 financial year, supported by a surge in interstate migration along with relatively affordable housing prices compared to NSW and Victoria. Six per cent of Canberra market changed hands, helped by stronger investment levels and relative affordability.

Elsewhere, 5.8 per cent of the NSW property market was sold, alongside 5 per cent in South Australia, 5.6 per cent in Western Australia, and 4.9 per cent in Tasmania.

Mr Lawless said the peak of sales is unlikely to have hit just yet but a fall will probably follow.

“Over the medium term, we expect turnover is likely to peak in early 2022. There is already evidence the monthly number of home sales is starting to ease, although reading through the additional disruption of lockdowns makes the trends harder to interpret,” he said.