Listing rebound expected after January fall

New property listing data from SQM Research suggests buyers are outpacing sellers in the housing market.

New property listings fell by a quarter through January. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans

New property listing data suggests buyers are outpacing sellers in the housing market, with the numbers of new dwellings made available in January down by a quarter despite staying up on the same time last year.

Data house SQM Research found the number of new listings brought to the market over the traditionally slower month of January was down by 24.5 per cent compared with December. But, in a positive sign for buyers, the number of sellers testing the market was up 4.3 per cent compared with the year prior.

Most capital cities recorded gains on new listings, except for Hobart (down 33.3 per cent, Canberra (down 26.1 per cent) and Sydney (downs 2.5 per cent) recording gains.

SQM managing director Louis Christopher said the slowdown in numbers was expected.

“The month of January traditionally records falls in properties listed for sale as the market is still in a summer holiday mode. This year was no exception,” Mr Christopher said.

“However, when we consider the number of new listings compared to January 2020, there was a material rise in nearly all cities. This finding is consistent with the observed early start to the auction market over January and February.”

“The overall numbers suggest there are more buyers than sellers in the marketplace. You can see this in the reduction of older listings in most cities year-on-year”

The total number of dwellings listed nationally was down by 2.9 per cent last month from December’s 265,116. Compared to 12 months ago, overall listings were down by 10.5 per cent. The two largest markets of Sydney and Melbourne recorded the only gains in total listings, up 4.5 per cent and 21.1 per cent respectively.

Asking prices from sellers hitting the capital city markets fell by 0.7 per cent for houses, while the hard-hit unit market increased 0.2 per cent over the month. The new year commenced with unit asking prices at $565,600 and houses $996,800. Compared to a year ago, the capital city asking prices posted increases of 2 per cent for houses but declined of 2.1 per cent for units.

Mr Christopher expects February figures to show a fuller picture of the market, predicting new listings will be equal to or surpass 2020 numbers. However, the outlook beyond March is unclear due to planned changes in federal coronavirus stimulus measures.

After the Reserve Bank of Australia board kept the cash rate on hold at 0.1 per cent at its first meeting of 2021, Mortgage Choice chief executive Susan Mitchell said the outlook for the housing market remained strong, noting “constrained supply continued to fuel a rise in house prices in January”.