North Sydney is the most undersupplied market in Australia with ‘extraordinarily low’ inventory levels making life tough for buyers according to new analysis.
New research commissioned by HOOD.ai found that North Sydney had less than one month’s worth of housing stock on the market.
Buyers in North Sydney are likely having a difficult time finding a property with current owners holding onto their properties and fuelling a housing shortage.
The second most under-supplied location was the Wollongong suburb of Dapto, followed by Belmont and Highton in Geelong, and Conder in the ACT.
The study looked at how long it would take to sell all the currently listed houses in a given suburb to gauge how much stock is available.
In 13 of the 20 most under-supplied markets, inventory levels have actually fallen over the past year, while others still have under one month’s supply of houses.
The 20 suburbs are spread between New South Wales (10), the Australian Capital Territory (4), South Australia (3) and Victoria (3), with all of them located within 75km of their capital city CBD.
HOOD.ai founder and CEO Tommy Fraser said the shortage of supply in these 20 locations was driving property prices higher.
“Part of the reason Australia has been experiencing a property boom is because stock levels have been low, which has forced buyers to compete harder and bid up prices,” Mr Fraser said.
“That story has really played out in these 20 suburbs, where inventory levels have been incredibly low over the past year.
“As a result, the median house price of most of these suburbs has experienced a double-digit percentage increase over the past year.”
Mr Fraser said these areas need more listings to help ease pressure on buyers.
“Buyers desperately need new stock to come onto the market in all these suburbs, because, right now, they’re in a terrible bind,” he said.
“When a house comes onto the market, do they offer a fair price and risk missing out?
“Or do they do whatever it takes to win the property but overpay?
“It would be great to return to a balanced market, where owners enjoy reasonable capital growth and buyers have a reasonable chance of finding a property in their chosen suburb.
“For that to happen, these 20 suburbs need to see a significant increase in new listings.”
