New listings surged last month, with the combined capital cities recording their busiest February in more than a decade, according to the PropTrack Listings Report February.
On a month-on-month basis, new listings on realestate.com.au jumped 29.9 per cent last month, and were up 16.6 per cent compared to a year prior.
According to PropTrack Senior Economist Angus Moore, the surge was driven largely by the combined capital cities recording their highest number of new listings for a February since 2012.
In Sydney, new listings climbed 33.6 per cent year-on-year, while Melbourne jumped 35.4 per cent, making it the busiest February since 2012 and at least 2010, respectively.
“Property markets in capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne especially, saw a strong start to 2024, with the busiest January and February since 2012 across the combined capital cities,” he said.
“This followed a period in 2023 of more-normal spring activity than was the case in 2022, when activity was fairly quiet.
“Supporting this busier start to the year – more so than we were seeing in spring 2022 and early 2023 – was strong demand, unemployment that remained low by historical standards, strong population growth, tight rental market conditions, and a more stable outlook for interest rates.”
New listings have also surged in Canberra, which recorded 32.2 per cent more new listings in Febraury than at the same time last year.
All capital cities recorded a rise in new listings last month, but on an annual basis Hobart (down 0.4 per cent) and Darwin (down 3 per cent) remain in the negative.
Regional areas were a little quieter, though not as quiet as 2023.
Across the combined regional areas, February was broadly in line with the pace of activity
that has been typical for February regionally over the past decade.
Even so, the number of new listings regionally was up 7.8 per cent year-on-year in February.
In regional NSW, new listings climbed 27 per cent month-on-month, while in regional Victoria, they rose 32.4 per cent.
Regional NT had the largest monthly increase in new listings, up 45.5 per cent., while regional South Australia saw new listings rise 18.6 per cent.
Outside of the capitals, regional NSW and regional Victoria saw solid increases in new
listings compared to the same time last year, continuing their trend of improving activity and
choice since the end of 2021.
Mr Moore said the fact experts had predicted interest rates would not rise again this year, and with the chance of a cut in the second half of the year, bode well for confidence in the property market.
“Markets are no longer expecting a further increase in interest rates, with an expectation of cuts as soon as the second half of this year,” he said.
“This is driven by the fact inflation appears to be coming under control sooner than the RBA had initially anticipated: over 2023, inflation was 4.1 per cent compared to the RBA’s expectation of 4.5 per cent.
“The RBA is now expecting inflation will be close to their target by the end of this year.”
