Sellers experienced a less successful spring season

CoreLogic’s Housing Chart Pack for December has found that this year’s spring selling season was less successful for sellers as overall sales volumes came in 4 per cent lower than the historic five-year average.

According to CoreLogic, the data varied from region to region, with Sydney sales volumes sitting 15.1 per cent lower than the historic average, while Adelaide saw volumes 15.8 per cent higher.

CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy said between higher stock levels and “lower-than-usual” sales volumes, the data for the end of November revealed that “buyers were the winners this spring (just), and sellers generally saw softer market conditions over the past few months”.

The estimated number of sales during November was 42,771, bringing the annual count to 527,688 in the 12 months to November.

On a national basis, homes also took longer to sell throughout spring with median days on market in the three months to November rising to 32 days, up from 28 days in the three months to August and 27 days during spring last year.

Ezzy said: “The increase in selling times has coincided with higher stock levels, and softer sales volumes year-on-year.

“The median time on market increased by four days year-on-year across both the combined capital cities and regional market.”

Total listing volumes rose 10.6 per cent through the season, with some of the tighter markets seeing an increase in stock.

In particular, Perth’s total listing levels topped levels seen at the same time as 2023 in the four weeks to 1 December, rising by 1.2 per cent, for the first time in 2024, following a 34 per cent increase in total listings over the spring selling season across the capital.

Furthermore, clearance rates across the combined capital cities moved lower through spring, signalling further evidence that markets have softened.

Over the four weeks to November 2024, the final weighted clearance weight averaged 57.3 per cent across the combined capital cities, falling from 62.7 per cent in the first four weeks of spring.

Meanwhile, CoreLogic found that rental growth continued to slow across Australia, with rents rising by 5.3 per cent over the 12 months to November, marking the slowest annual chance since April 2021.

According to Ezzy, this may be attributed to slowing demand for rentals due to strained affordability, which potentially prompted the formation of more share houses or forcing younger Australians to reconsider moving out of the family home.

“This is reinforced by RBA reporting on average household size, which has been rising across the capital cities,” she said.

“The gradual slowdown in net overseas migration could also be contributing to the stabilising in rent values, and as the backlog of Homebuilder work moves into completion, this could also take some demand out of the rental market.”

[RELATED: Is it gearing up to be a quiet spring season for the property market?]

Adrian Suljanovic is a journalist at Broker Daily with more than two years experience reporting on all facets of the third party distribution channel.

Adrian has written for a range of business and finance titles including IFA, Investor Daily and Lawyer’s Weekly before joining the mortgages team in 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2021 gaining a Bachelor of Communication & Media with a major in Digital & Social Media.

E-mail Adrian at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.