National residential property listings dropped by 1 per cent from May to June, according to new figures from SQM Research.
Listings are also down 7.5 per cent from last June.
There were just shy of three thousand fewer properties listed in June, with listings down from 304,137 in May to 301,140.
Perth and Melbourne were the only capital cities to see residential listings rise since May, 0.4 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively
Sydney dropped by 1.6 per cent, whereas listings in Darwin, Canberra and Hobart fell considerably, at 5.3 per cent, 5.7 per cent, and 7.5 per cent respectively.
Darwin’s listing have declined 22.2 per cent since last June, while Melbourne’s have increased by 10.2 per cent.
“It is not unusual for listings to decrease in June as it is the start of the colder winter months,” explains Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research.
“There was a solid increase in new listings. Indeed, we have more new listings on the market compared to this time last year.
“Listings that were coming up to 90 days dropped the most, indicating that some of the older stock had either been withdrawn or was selling during June.”
Christopher warns that while “these numbers on their own would indicate fairly normal activity in the housing market”, the fall in vendor asking prices for the month suggests otherwise.
The average ‘asking prices’ for residential properties listed in June decreased by 0.8 per cent across all houses, and 0.4 per cent for units.
