Listings have surged more than sixfold in suburbs such as Punchbowl in Sydney’s south-west, in what could be an early sign that more homes are about to hit the market amid growing vendor confidence.
In the past month, listings jumped by 580 per cent in Punchbowl and 500 per cent in Hillside to 34 and 30 respectively, although from a low base.
The first signs of an uptick in some areas come after lockdowns in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra disrupted the traditional surge in listings in spring more broadly. Overall, residential listings fell by 18 per cent on average across the country during August, according to property research firm Suburbtrends.
Suburbtrends director Kent Lardner said the rise in listings in some localities was probably triggered by the surging prices in those areas.
“I think vendors are being lured by the large price increases and they want to take advantage of the strong buyer’s demand,” he said.
“Despite a rise in inventories, these markets are still very tight, so the increase in listings would be absorbed very rapidly and have hardly any adverse impact on prices.”
Ray White Punchbowl selling agent John Yatman said listings were still below normal spring levels. However, volumes were likely to rise once lockdowns end.
“We’ve seen more listings in the greater Punchbowl area, but even so, there are only 35 or so properties on the market, which is half of what we normally get around this time of the year.
“I’m expecting at least 30 per cent more stock to come later in the year, based on the number of appraisals that we’re conducting, which is quite a lot.
“At the moment, there’s definitely not enough on the market to meet buyer demand.”
Listings in Dural in Sydney’s north-west climbed by more than fourfold to 24 and rose by a similar amount in Crows Nest on the lower north shore. Listings in Birchgrove in the inner west and Naremburn, also on the lower north shore, more than doubled.
The Gap in Brisbane and Brighton-le-Sands in Sydney’s south also posted a twofold rise in listings to 36 and 12 homes respectively.
Vendor confidence on the rise
STARR Partners chief executive Douglas Driscoll said Sydney vendors were becoming more confident to list their homes as the end of the lockdown became clearer.
“I think people are recognising that we’re getting closer to the end of the lockdown, so they’re more comfortable about going to market now,” he said.
“Across our offices, we’ve seen a 25 per cent rise in the past four weeks, which tells me that vendors are fed up with waiting and just want to get on with their lives.”
Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said listings were about to rise across the board as a growing number of vendors sign up agents to sell their homes.
The number of homes Ray White was authorised to sell but have not yet listed, had jumped by 31 per cent across the country in the four weeks to September 8 compared to the same period last year.
In NSW and the ACT, the number of homes about to be listed had risen by 12.6 per cent. It jumped by 25.9 per cent in Queensland and by 7.2 per cent in WA.
Across Victoria and Tasmania, the number of homes yet to hit the market surged by 90 per cent, and it climbed by 47.4 per cent in SA and NT.
“These numbers show that vendors are gearing up for spring,” Ms Conisbee said.
“They’ve already committed to selling but have not decided on the date, so I think we’ll see a lot of people pulling the trigger once the lockdown ends.”
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said a flood of new listings could overwhelm the market if fewer buyers remained.
“If we see too many listings coming into the market relative to demand, then there’s a risk of oversupply,” he said.
“Last year, the flood of listings was soaked up quickly, but it’s possible that there could be fewer buyers this time.”
This article is from Australian Financial Review, please click the following link for the original article: https://www.afr.com/property/residential/vendors-confidence-rises-as-lockdowns-near-end-20210909-p58q3c
