Winter of discontent ends as market springs into action

As the spring selling season kicks off, there has been a hefty surge in new listings across Australia’s five biggest capital cities.

Tracy and Stephen Barry are confident the time is just right for their home in Paddington, Brisbane, to go on the market. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Australia’s property market has come to life, with the largest seasonal surge of new homes hitting the market in five years.

As the spring selling season kicks off this weekend, the number of homes coming onto the market has grown by 21.7 per cent across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, according to data from property data analyst CoreLogic. The change comes off the back of a quiet winter that saw some of the lowest listing numbers on record.

Melbourne had the most significant rise in new listings compared to its winter low, up 36.2 per cent, adding 5969 homes in the week to last Sunday.

It was a similar story in Sydney, with new listings up 5008 properties in the same period, a 34.8 per cent increase from the winter low point of just over 3700 homes per week in mid-July.

Brisbane was up 13 per cent to 3535 listings from a winter low of fewer than 3000 new listings per week in early-July.

New listings made up 23 per cent of all homes listed in Sydney last Saturday, up from 16 per cent on the first Saturday in July. Melbourne experienced a rise from 14 per cent to 20 per cent.

It has been the biggest surge in property numbers each of the capitals has had in five years, but the volume of homes is still low.

… as a % of total listings

Analysts have been optimistic about the remainder of 2019 on the back of improved market confidence, greater access to credit and historically low interest rates.

CoreLogic residential researcher Cameron Kusher said the uptick had been expected but its magnitude was surprising.

“New listing numbers are ramping up a lot quicker than what we’ve seen in the past and that’s probably a bit of a reaction to how strong auction clearance rates have been,” he said. “Also, some markets are recovering quicker than people expected.”

New listings in Adelaide and Perth remained low but stable through winter, hovering around 1500 and 2500 new homes on the market each week respectively.

Excited Brisbane homeowners Stephen and Tracy Barry put their home on the market last Wednesday. They spent two years redeveloping their Paddington property but have decided to move out of the inner city to the country.

“Being spring, it is the perfect time to come on the market,” Ms Barry said. “We are very confident with the market at the moment.”

Estate agent Judi O’Dea of Ray White Paddington is marketing the property. She said 27 interested buyers had already inspected

“Spring will be very, very busy,” Ms O’Dea said. “It certainly is a seller’s paradise.”

Mr Kusher said sellers looking to take advantage of spring should act sooner rather than later.

“The markets in a pretty early recovery. Yes, we’ve got low interest rates but accessing finances is still quite difficult,” he said.

“So there may be some concern that, while there is more buzz around, if we start to see a huge volume of new listings, there won’t be enough buyers. In that sense, it is probably better to get your property onto the market early in spring rather than later.”