09 Aug 2010
Stock levels still rising, warns SQM
Residential real estate listings continued to rise during July, according to SQM research.
Total national online property listings rose by 5.1% in July – the third successive month to show an increase in supply. SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher suggests that this shows an “increasingly softening market”, especially listing numbers in a normal market have historically remained flat or recorded a marginal drop during the winter months.
“Vendors have been more often than not failing to get the price they’re after. The old stock hanging on the market is competing with new stock coming on, resulting in an increase in overall supply,” said Christopher.
“The only capital city where supply has remained fairly consistent over the previous year is Sydney, indicating that this city is likely to represent the most stable market currently.”
Christopher believes that, with the additional expected increase in listing numbers for the spring selling season, national listings could reach a high of 370,000 advertised properties by December