There’s more sellers in the market… but a lot more buyers.
One of the interesting things about the epic boom in prices we’ve seen through 2021 is that partly it’s been driven by a lack of stock on the market.
There was a seller’s strike. People weren’t putting their places up for sale. Maybe it was because of the confusion around Covid. Maybe they were just waiting for higher prices.
But whatever the case, a shortage of properties on the market helped fuel the epic boom that we’ve seen.
That dynamic maybe starting to shift though. In recent months we’ve seen new listings pick up somewhat, to be back in line with normal averages.
That’s happening in both our capital city and our regional markets, though more so in the capitals.
So that might go some way to taking some of the heat out of the market. That said, total listings remains well below normal averages.
And that’s because we are just selling properties so quickly. Anything that comes on the market is snapped up, keeping the total available pool low and thin.
You can see it in the sales data, which is well above 5 year averages.
And the time on market data too. The number of days a listings spends on realestate.com.au is about half of what it normally is.
So the story here is that while supply might be opening up a little, demand remains massive, and will continue to drive the story.
You can see it in the average number of views listings on realestate.com.au get. Again, it’s about twice as much as normal.
So while supply might be relaxing a little, it is relaxing into a market where demand is still massive.
And that means that the market will remain in shortage (with total listings well below normal levels) well into 2022, even in the best case scenario.
And for as long as the market remains in shortage, prices will keep going up.
If Aussie property prices are going to put a brake on any time soon, it’s not going to be during 2022.
JG.