Are there Hobart suburbs where prices have decreased?

IS it possible to find a “bargain” or even just a sharp-priced home in a hot market like Hobart?

New data from realestate.com.au reveals nine suburbs where the median price has dipped in the past 12 months.

The largest reductions were all in the unit sector: Moonah (-17.2 per cent), Mount Nelson (-11.9 per cent), South Hobart (-11.8 per cent).

But don’t count your chickens just yet.

These results run against the grain of a market that is screaming out for an increase in listings.

And when listings are low, competition is fierce.

Take a look at Moonah units. This corner of the market has an annual median price currently at $286,500 with 13 sales. Three years ago it was $268,500, an increase of $18,000 over the period.

It’s a similar story in Mount Nelson, with a dozen sales and a $50,000 increase between the median three years ago and the current figure.

South Hobart was the only suburb of these top three where the 24 units sold in the past 12 months had a median price ($352,750) that was lower than the median was three years ago ($376,500).

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Mandy Welling said while the data was interesting, it did not feel like an accurate reflection of the market.

“With the activity around at the moment, many agents are still producing situations with multiple offers and achieving considerable sale prices above the advertised price,” she said.

“Looking at a few of the suburbs that made the cut, such as South Hobart, Mount Nelson, Moonah, Bellerive, I’d imagine the movement in the median might suggest just a few properties were sold under the previous median — and dragging the median down overall — rather than an actual trend toward lower prices.

“With Moonah, for example, the median is $286,000. I’d suggest that represents many existing smaller unit sales were transacted in the past 12 months while in the previous year ($346,000 median) from memory there were many new villas being constructed in areas like Springfield Avenue.”

She said she had not seen any solid evidence that the demand for properties in those areas had decreased.

“If the market was starting to decline, we would see prices start to decrease in regional areas — but how things are travelling, I find that highly unlikely,” she said.

SUBURB, HOUSE/UNIT, SALES, ANNUAL MEDIAN, MEDIAN CHANGE

Moonah U 13 $286,500 -17.2%

Mount Nelson U 12 $352,500 -11.9%

South Hobart U 24 $352,700 -11.8%

Cambridge H 18 $580,625 -5.6%

Rosny H 10 $656,000 -2.8%

Bellerive U 39 $416,500 -2%

Snug H 13 $480,000 -1.5%

Old Beach H 56 $455,000 -1.1%

Lindisfarne U 21 $452,000 -0.2%

Source: realestate.com.au data