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This week we take a look at the start of an increase in time on market, as well as a look at what is selling quickest and what is selling slowest.
Days on market starts to rise
On pretty much all measures at the moment, there isn’t much sign of a market slowdown. However one metric suggests that one is imminent and that is time on market. The number of days a property stayed on market hit a record low in March 2021 with homes selling on average in 21 days. In September, this had risen to 35 days.
By capital city however, the numbers are looking a bit different. The two cities with the biggest jump in days on market since March are Melbourne and Perth. For Melbourne, it is likely difficulty in selling properties during lockdown was a factor. In this city, days on market increased from 18 days to 37 days. For Perth, challenges in the iron ore sector may be a factor. Days on market increased from 18 days to 37 days. The only city to see a decline in days on market was Canberra declining from 36 days to 34 days.
As to what is driving the slowdown, it could be a number of factors. The first is that buyers are becoming more discerning, perhaps driven by very fast price growth and a subsequent hesitancy. The second could be lockdowns. It is difficult to sell homes in lockdown. Not only do listings drop but so too does buyer activity - as a result homes take longer to sell, without necessarily impacting pricing. For now, price growth is continuing at a rapid rate but this is one indicator that suggests that it may start to slow as we head to the end of the year.
What is selling quickest (and slowest) right now
Days on market are starting to rise but there are some property types and locations that are selling far quicker than others. While the average for Australia currently sits at 35 days, in Hobart, homes are selling twice as fast at just 17.5 days. Sydney comes in second at 24 days. Darwin and Melbourne are currently the slowest moving markets.
Some suburbs are moving even quicker. Werrington Downs in Sydney’s west are selling within six days while homes in Samson in Perth and Rokeby in Hobart are selling in a similar time frame. A feature of the quickest selling homes is that they are reasonably priced, nice suburbs. Many of them are outer suburban - this has been a key feature of strong demand suburbs during the pandemic. Buyers have valued properties with bigger homes and larger blocks more than they used to.
Slowest selling suburbs generally have something unusual about them. They could be very expensive such as South Coogee - a lovely suburb but with a median close to $4 million would be out of reach for most buyers. Another feature is difficulty in accessing the suburb. All the slowest selling suburbs in Brisbane are on islands. They could also have features about them that appeal to a smaller group of buyers. Brooklyn in western Melbourne isn’t far from the CBD but a lot of the suburb is industrial.
