Home listings spike opens options up

There are more Hobart homes for sale now than there have been in two years, a report has revealed.

LISTING activity in Hobart and Tasmania is improving.

In PropTrack’s June Listings report, economist Angus Moore found that total listings in Hobart were up by 37.7 per cent compared year-on year and 8.5 per cent month-on-month.

Areas outside of the capital grew by 12.8 per cent and 4 per cent.

The year-on-year percentage change for new listings was equally large, with Hobart recording 46.7 per cent annual growth. This was by far the largest change of the capital city markets. Second place Adelaide recorded 13.4 per cent growth in home listings.

Hobart city’s monthly listing change was more modest at 1.7 per cent.

The number of new Tassie regional area listings was down for the month (-6.1 per cent) but still higher than the 12 month figure (21.6 per cent).

More homes for sale is welcome news for Hobart buyers.

Mr Moore said stronger listing activity compared to last year provided more options for buyers.

“Hobart has had a very busy start to the year, with a surge of new listings hitting the market,” he said.

“These new options have helped give buyers more choice.”

Mr Moore said the additional homes coming to market represented “the most stock that has been available in Hobart for two years”.

“It will come as welcome news for buyers who have been facing tough competition and limited options for some time,” he said.

At a suburb level, the report found that Sandy Bay had the largest decrease in listings with a -32 per cent year-on-year change followed by Kingston (-11 per cent) and Rokeby (-8 per cent).

Glenorchy recorded the largest increase with a 40 per cent uptick in listings followed by Howrah (27 per cent) and New Norfolk (14 per cent).

PropTrack economist Angus Moore.

SQM Research figures show there were 1538 homes for sale in Hobart in May.

That figure is slightly lower than the previous month by 69 listings.

It was also the largest number of homes for sale since March 2021.

When Covid first reached Tasmania in March 2020, there were 2041 homes for sale. A year earlier, Hobart had 2503 homes on the market.

The high point of the past decade was November 2012 with 4959 homes listed for sale in Hobart.

Eleanor Creagh, PropTrack senior economist.

Meanwhile, PropTrack’s Housing Market Indicators report for June showed that demand for Tasmanian housing — based on views per listing — remained high.

Tassie’s average views have decreased since the start of the year but are higher than every other state.

Economist Eleanor Creagh’s report showed that views per listing remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.

However, since May last year, views have fallen -17.4 per cent in Tasmania as “housing market conditions have eased off record highs”.

“That's largely driven by a -28.6 per cent fall off from record highs in Hobart,” Ms Creagh said.