Property listings lift in February as sellers take profits

By Jon Bragg

March 04 2022
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Listings across Australia rose by nearly 7 per cent last month compared to January.

Residential property listings rose by 6.8 per cent nationally last month, according to SQM Research, as the number of listings in Sydney and Canberra increased significantly.

214,495 properties were listed for sale during February, up from 200,865 in January, however the total number of listings remains 16.8 per cent lower than a year ago.

Canberra led the monthly rise in listings with an increase of 24.1 per cent, followed by Sydney (19.6 per cent), Melbourne (12.8 per cent) and Hobart (10.7 per cent).

New listings surged 62.0 per cent following the seasonal lull in activity in January with the strongest rises again seen in Canberra (86.1 per cent) and Sydney (81.0 per cent).

“The upward surge in listings over February suggests some sellers are taking profits after phenomenal price rises were posted in 2021,” said SQM Research founder Louis Christopher.

“We could see the upward trend in listings continue through the first half of the year as more sellers seek to take profits.”

The decline in total listings annually was most significantly impacted by falls in Brisbane (-31.8 per cent) and Adelaide (-26.1 per cent).

Meanwhile, Darwin recorded annual growth of 14.8 per cent as the number of listings in Sydney (3.3 per cent) and Perth (2.5 per cent) also edged higher annually.

New listings moved up 4.3 per cent on an annual basis with the most notable increase seen in Perth, where the number of new listings soared 18.7 per cent compared to a year earlier.

SQM Research also indicated that asking prices over the month of February rose by 1.8 per cent for houses and 3.6 per cent for units.

However, capital city asking prices increased by only 0.9 per cent for houses and 1.3 per cent for units, indicative of the diverse growth in prices seen recently in different cities and regions.

“The national housing market appears to remain reasonably buoyant. Overall, supply remains below long-term averages and we are still recording capital city rises in asking prices,” commented Mr Christopher.

“Yes, there is a slowdown occurring in some of our capital cities, however, it is proving to be a soft landing at this stage.”

Across the country, asking prices have climbed 22.5 per cent higher over the past year for houses and 13.6 per cent higher seen for units.

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