Tight listings have been one of the main features of the Sydney property market in recent
years, but there are signs that the sellers might be coming out early this year.
Traditionally, Spring has been the time of year when most people head to the market.
However, in the past few years, listing levels have remained low, stoked by ongoing high
demand.
According to BresicWhitney, sellers are getting ready to list properties early this year and get
ahead of the crowd. They said there is some chance that we could see another interest rate
rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia, and some vendors are concerned that it might dent
sentiment.
Ray White data shows listing authorities jumped 19 per cent nationally over the rolling 28
days compared to a year ago, indicating more properties are about to hit the market.
Listing authority is the point at which a buyer signs an agent, but the property is yet to be
listed. This is often how Henderson buyers agents in Sydney access off-market opportunities for our clients.
So far, new listings across Sydney have dropped by 4.1 per cent over the past four weeks
compared to a year ago amid the seasonal slowdown.
However, fresh stock is sitting 10.3 per cent higher than the five-year average, according to
CoreLogic data.
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said if the RBA hikes again, it could put pressure
on homeowners who are overextended.
“Logically, there’s probably more people that are going to need to sell as we’re already
seeing a trend towards higher mortgage arrears,” Mr Lawless said.
“Higher interest rates could see the spring season being amplified a little in terms of more
listings coming into the marketplace, or we could see a return to what happened in the early
part of the rate hiking cycle, where people just buckled down.
“Although I’d argue that this time around, some homeowners may have already drawn out
their savings, making it potentially harder to stay on top of their household finances and
there’s already some element of stress in the marketplace that will probably get worse.”
According to PropTrack new listings are trending higher. They said that although the number
of new listings was lower in the seasonally quieter month of June, they remained higher than
in last year.
Outside of the COVID-impacted years of 2021 and 2022, new listings in June this year were
the highest they’ve been since 2017 they said.
“The stronger new listing environment over the past 12 months has resulted in an increase in
the total number of properties listed for sale, which is 7.3% higher over the year,” PropTrack
said.
“Although total listing volumes are higher nationally, the increase has been stronger in
capital cities than regional markets with Sydney and Melbourne the main contributors to the
increase in total listings.”
Typically Spring is a great time for buyers to get into the market because the increased
supply levels make it far better for buyers.
Ironically, vendors actually put themselves at a disadvantage because they are forced to sell
their properties at the same time as everyone else.
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