More stock means more choice for Hobart buyers

News Corp Australia Network

WINTER is often a slower time for real estate.

Yet some agents swear by selling in cooler months.

Sure, a winter garden might not look as sharp as it would in spring, but there also tends to be less competition at this time of year from similar properties. And that leads to the possibility of a higher sale price.

Hobart often bucks against trends, and that seems to have been the case in June with a significant new listings lift.

PropTrack’s latest listings report showed 44.4 per cent year-on-year new stock growth in the first month of winter.

That put Hobart streaks ahead of the other capital cities.

The national figure was 8.5 per cent growth. Canberra posted a 32.1 per cent change, Perth 15.1 per cent and Brisbane 11.4 per cent.

Regional Tasmania’s YoY results were also strong with a 16 per cent increase compared to 2021, which was in lock-step with regional NSW for No.1 in the country.

Hobart also posted positive results in the total listings part of the report, 2.2 per cent for the month and 57.5 per cent annually.

Regional Tasmania’s total stock receded by -3.6 per cent for the month but was 16.9 per cent higher than last year.

PropTrack economist and report author, Angus Moore, said the 44 per cent change was the busiest June for new Hobart home listings since 2015.

His research found some gigantic changes in listing numbers around Hobart.

Kingston topped the charts with 120 per cent more new listings compared to last year.

The Glenorchy market was also flying with an 81 per cent increase. Rokeby posted a 50 per cent change, Howrah 21 per cent and Lenah Valley 18 per cent.

The largest decrease was in Claremont at -30 per cent.

SQM Research listing figures show June was one of Hobart’s best months of 2022 for total listings.

There were 1602 homes for sale in June, 1538 in May, 1607 in April, 1365 in March, 1301 in February, and a low 1175 in January.

June’s breakdown included 597 properties that had been on the market for less than 30 days. There were 313 in the 30-60 day range, 253 in the 60-90 range, 248 in the 90-180 range and perhaps surprisingly, 191 homes that had been on the market for 181 days or more.

Mr Moore said the housing market has had a strong first half of 2022.

“There has been a brisk pace of new listings,” he said.

“While conditions are likely to slow a little through the typically quieter winter period, activity has remained robust in many markets.”

Mr Moore said buyers have had more choice available to them in recent months.

He said this had “eased how competitive conditions had been”.