Time on market has more than doubled in some areas – but that's not cause for alarm, expert says
Homes in Sydney are taking more than twice as long to sell as they did last year as buyers wait for more certainty on interest rates and property prices, according to data from PropTrack.
The property researcher found that the average time it takes to sell a house in outer southwest and northwest Sydney has doubled to 28 days in the last 12 months. The NSW Central Coast also saw time on market double, to 44 days, The Australian reported.
There’s been an 80% spike in the time it takes to sell a house in Brisbane’s north and western suburbs and the Moreton Bay region, with time on market now up to around 40 days.
However, PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said the increase wasn’t cause for alarm. He said that after record selling speeds during the pandemic, the market is returning to a normal rhythm despite the lower number of properties available for sale.
“It really does highlight how much conditions have shifted over the last 12 months,” Kusher told The Australian. “Time on market was still generally lower than it was before the start of the pandemic. Given how much rates have risen over a short period of time, we’d expect that levels would head back towards those longer-term averages at least.”
The increase in time on market is primarily for private treaty campaigns, The Australian reported. Tim Snell, chief executive of Ray White NSW, said auctions saw stronger performance.
“The volume of buyer demand is probably the same, it just takes more time to get that through,” Snell told the publication.
Kusher said he expected that homes would continue to take longer to sell, but added that low stock levels meant they wouldn’t sit on the market for long.
Hobart recorded the largest spike in days on market for both houses (up 166.7%) and units (up 145.5%). However, it also has the fastest-selling property, with homes selling between 24 and 27 days after dropping to as low as nine days in January 2021, The Australian reported.
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Adrian Kelly, principal at View Property, said the longer selling times indicated a return of balance to the market, with buyers and sellers on a more even playing field.
“When interest rates started to rise, confidence came out of the market and property took longer to sell,” Kelly told The Australian.
He said that lifestyle properties were still much sought-after by interstate sea-changers, but “blue collar” areas of the capital that have a healthy level of properties for sale were struggling.
While many areas are seeing slower sales, some parts of the country have seen the market speed up over the past 12 months. Time on market went from 48 to 38 days in Cairns, from 47 to 40 days in Adelaide’s central and Hills suburbs, and from 86 to 67 days in South Australia’s Barossa and Yorke region, The Australian reported.
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