While you were having some down time over the festive season, did you find yourself scrolling through real estate listings? If so, you might’ve noticed there were fewer properties available for sale than usual. There’s a reason for that.
If you couldn’t find the home you’re looking for over the break, don’t stress – it’s actually much harder to find ‘the one’ at this time of year.
That’s because property listings traditionally drop in December, with 2020 no exception.
In fact, according to SQM Research, national residential property listings decreased by 7.9% in December 2020, falling from 296,267 in November 2020 to 272,999.
If you compare that figure to 12 months prior, it equates to a 5.8% drop.
What’s even more interesting, however, was that new listings (those less than 30 days old) dropped a whopping 17.0% in December, with 13,680 fewer new properties listed for sale than in November.
So why did the overall number of listings drop?
Well for starters, you can’t blame people for not wanting to spend their summer holidays selling their property (particularly after enduring the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown/s.)
“The month of December traditionally records falls in properties listed for sale as it is the start of the festive and summer holiday period,” explains Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research.
It could also be because two-thirds of Australians believe it’s a good time to buy property. And therefore, demand continues to outstrip supply.
You may have even caught one or two news reports of regional and coastal house prices soaring as city slickers decide to finally make their big escape.
And of course, home buyer activity has been further boosted by a number of federal and state government initiatives, including the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, HomeBuilder and stamp duty exemptions/concessions.
So when can I hope to find ‘the one’?
The good news is that listings are expected to increase again shortly, according to SQM Research. And from a local perspective, we tend to see the number of listings increase from February onwards, when most of us are back at work and school holidays have come to an end.
“Going forward I believe listings activity is going to remain strong in early 2021,” Mr Christopher says.
Furthermore, recent NHFIC research indicates new residential construction supply is expected to exceed demand by 127,000 dwellings in 2021 across Australia, and 68,000 dwellings in 2022 (this is due to the dramatic impact of COVID-19 on net overseas migration).
Are you ready to act, if a property you like comes along?
If you’re planning to buy in 2021, you need to talk to us sooner than you might think. Lenders are taking a little bit longer to do things at the moment, which you can read about here.
If you would like to talk to us about your options and get a pre-approval underway, we’re here to help!
