Listing shortage is keeping prices up

There were two sets of figures released by Domain in recent days which confirm what we’ve been hearing from a number of agents around Melbourne in recent months.

The anecdotal evidence that our Advocates have been hearing around Victoria since late last year is that an ongoing shortage of new listings has been helping to counteract the potential drops in property prices that many have expected. This market feedback now has some clear and measurable support.

For example, data released this week by Domain indicates that some parts of Melbourne experienced a year on year drop in new listings in January of more than 20 per cent. Examples of this include the north-eastern suburbs which recorded a drop in January of more than 28 per cent when compared with the same period in 2022, as did the inner south. The inner suburbs as a whole were down by almost 22 per cent while the outer eastern suburbs recorded a drop of just under 20 per cent.

In fact, the only regions reporting an increase in available property listings was the north-west and west of town, and the Mornington Peninsula which recorded in impressive year on year increase of over 27 per cent!

Whilst the lack of available choice is certainly a source of frustration for many home buyers, it is certainly having a positive impact for sellers. Domain’s chief of research and economics, Nicola Powell was quoted this week as saying, “We saw in the December quarter in Melbourne last year almost a stabilisation in prices as fewer listings came to the market.”

In fact, Domain’s statistics say that whilst the overall Melbourne market recorded a drop of 5.6 per cent in prices, the median house price in Melbourne actually rose very slightly in the December quarter, (0.7%).

This confirms the advice we’ve been providing to many of our clients here at Ian Reid Buyer and Vendor Advocates…that the current selling conditions are far better than most people realise.

So if you’d like to discuss your options as far as making a move in 2023, don’t hesitate to give one of our team a call 9430 0000.