Property markets defy usual winter listing jitters

Australia’s property market had the busiest start to the winter in June despite the usual dip recorded from the previous month.  

According to PropTrack’s latest report, while new listings in Australia declined by 3.5% over the month, they increased by 8.5% on a yearly basis in June. 

PropTrack economist Angus Moore said the latest showing signals the busiest June for new listings in over a decade.  

“The property market has had a strong first half of 2022 — there has been a brisk pace of new listings, with more new listings nationally across the first half of the year than during any year since 2015,” he said.  

“While conditions are likely to slow a little as we continue through the typically quieter winter period, activity has remained robust in many markets.” 

Mr Moore said while selling conditions have started to temper after the hyped period between spring 2021 and early 2022, the drivers of activity remained strong, hinging on the low unemployment rate, the return of international migration, and the positive outlook for wage growth.

“At the same time, buyers have had more properties to choose from in recent months — the wave of new supply coming to market over the first half of the year, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra, has lifted the stock available on market and eased how competitive conditions had been,” he said.  

This comes at a time when house prices are falling across many cities, which could continue as the impacts of the rate increases become more evident in the coming months.  

How individual states and capital cities performed 

New listings in each capital and regional markets across states and territories varied, with the former reporting a 6.4% decline while the latter hit a 2.5% gain over the month.  

On an annual basis, capital cities reported 5.9% more new listings than last year, and regional areas recorded a 2.5% growth. 

All capital cities, save for Darwin, recorded annual gains in new listings in June, with Hobart and Canberra reporting the biggest growth rates at 44.4% and 32.1%, respectively. 

Here are some other highlights: 

• Sydney had its strongest start to the winter selling period in 2015 after it reported a 1.3% increase in new listings from last year.  
• Melbourne also experienced a busy June, with new listings growth at the fastest rate since 2012.  
• Brisbane’s winter started with an 8.6% monthly increase in new listings — this makes the past month its busiest since 2011.  
• Perth also hit its most active start to the winter selling period since 2011 as new listings rose by 4.1% monthly and 15.1% annually. 
• While Darwin did not beat any of its records, it still had a pretty busy month for listings with a 5.7% monthly growth. 

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Photo by @pavel-danilyuk on Pexels.