Property listings on a ‘traditional’ decline in January

But according to SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher, January traditionally sees a drop in properties listed for sale as the market emerges from the “summer holiday mode”.

“This year was no exception,” Mr Christopher noted.

On the city level, all capitals experienced a decrease in total listings over the month, except for Perth, which saw a 0.1 per cent increase.

Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne recorded the highest declines of 4.7 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Canberra (-2.9 per cent), Darwin (-2.1 per cent), Hobart (-1.2 per cent) and Adelaide (-0.1 per cent) had more subdued declines.

Annually, only Sydney and Melbourne saw increases in stocks at 4.5 per cent and 21.1 per cent, respectively.

New listings also decline

New listings also decreased nationally by 24.46 per cent over January, with 16,234 less new properties listed for sale in the market.

However, looking at year-on-year data, new listings recorded a slight increase of 4.3 per cent, with most capital cities following the upward trend, except for Sydney and Hobart.

“This finding is consistent with the observed early start to the auction market over January and February,” Mr Christopher said.

As of January, Melbourne has the most stock available on market at 37,617 properties, followed by Brisbane with 25,720 and Sydney with 25,149.