Over the 28 days ending 3 April 2016, total advertised housing stock levels were -4.2% lower on a national basis relative to last year, with the total volume of newly advertised listings being added to the market were -2.2% lower than a year ago. On the other hand, across the nation’s capital city markets, total stock available is currently 1.3% higher than one year ago, while new listings are tracking relatively steady, just -0.2% lower year on year.
Despite the total levels of new advertised housing stock being added to the market being almost the same as last year, the distribution of this stock being added is extremely different across the individual capital cities. The number of new listings is higher in each of Melbourne (+5.6%), Brisbane (+7.0%), Adelaide (+2.5%) and Canberra (+5.5%), suggesting a stronger level of vendor confidence across these cities, while in Sydney (-2.7%), Perth (-11.6%), Hobart (-16.0%) and Darwin (-18.0%) the amount of residential properties being added to the market is lower than at the same time last year.
The number of properties being advertised for sale nationally has moved lower over the past few weeks due to a combination of both new listings trending lower and more stock beginning to be absorbed. This is a similar trend that has been seen over the past few years, where stock levels tend to moderate slightly after the first quarter comes to an end. Over the 28 days ending 3 April, 41,381 new listings were added to the market nationally, substantially lower than over the 28 day period ending 28 February when 50,174 residential listings were taken to the market, the highest volume of national new listings over a 28 day period so far this year.
