Asking prices rise

Asking prices rise

Posted on Wednesday, January 08 2014 at 3:45 PM

Market analyst SQM Research says property values look set to strengthen with capital city asking prices continuing to rise as stock levels fall.

SQM’s Asking Prices Index
shows the capital city average asking price for houses is now at $706,300
reflecting a 7.2 per cent increase year on year.

For units, SQM Research has
recorded an average asking price of $459,300, which is a 2.3 per cent increase
year on year.

“SQM Research’s Asking
Prices Index has revealed that vendors of Sydney houses have lifted their
asking prices by 14 per cent over the last 12 months, further demonstrating the
strength in the Sydney housing market recently.

“Canberra was the only
capital city to record a decline in asking prices for houses on a yearly basis,
falling by 1.5 per cent since this same week, 12 months earlier.”

Figures for stock levels,
released along with the Index results, show a fall in the number of properties
listed for sale.

National stock levels dropped by 8.5 per cent
in December 2013 to 337,744, while the annualised figure reflects a fall of 4.3
per cent in advertised stock since December 2012.

SQM’s latest release shows all capital cities
except one (Hobart) recorded a drop in listings during December 2013 with decreases
ranging from 8.5 per cent in Darwin to 26.4 per cent in Sydney.

Louis Christopher, managing
director of SQM Research, says although monthly decreases are seasonal, it’s
the year-on-year figure that’s most indicative of a strengthening market.

“There were some rather
large declines in listings over December, however that is to be expected for
this time of year given how the housing industry shuts down over Christmas and
much of January, though the large year on year decreases in some cities such as
Sydney are noted once again.”

Christopher says their
analysis indicates a strong start to the market in 2014.

“Overall I see no evidence
of any slowdown in the market itself with these numbers, and indeed our Asking Prices
Index recorded some very strong increases right throughout December.

“We are confident of a very
strong market opening later this month.”

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