Ray White Now

PRICE MOVEMENTS

House and unit price growth continued in September after reaching a new peak in July. year-on-year, we’re now recording the strongest growth since mid last year. Australian house prices increased by 6.1 per cent while units increased by 4.3 per cent over the past 12 months.

The city recording the strongest growth for houses over the year is Perth, with prices up 8.6 per cent. Brisbane and Adelaide are recording the strongest increases for units, increasing by 6.8 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively.

While growth continues, the rate of monthly change slowed marginally in September compared to the previous month. While Perth houses continue to show the largest increases year-on-year, they saw a slight drop in September of 0.5 per cent. Adelaide units, also a very strong year-on-year performer, saw a decline during the month of 0.4 per cent.

LISTING ACTIVITY

Nearly all major cities saw listings decline in September, with the exception of Canberra. On a year-on-year basis, however, the trend is far more positive. Australian listings are up 3.1 per cent. Sydney is leading the charge with total listings up almost 26 per cent. More negatively, Brisbane and Darwin are still well below 2022 trends.

At this point, it does look like the supply/demand imbalance between people wanting to buy and the number of properties for sale will ensure that price growth continues. Ray White listing authorities (the point at which a vendor signs to a Ray White agent but the property is not yet advertised) pulled back in Sydney and Melbourne in September relative to August. If this trend continues, and starts to be observed in other states, it’s likely that this will be a contributor to continued price growth, alongside ongoing strong population growth and low housing supply.

AUCTION INSIGHTS

In September we conducted more than 1,800 auctions, the highest September number ever recorded. Despite an uplift in the number of properties going to auction, we also saw an increase in the total number of people actively bidding, increasing from 4,700 people to 5,100 people. Adelaide remains our most contested market with an average of 3.5 active bidders (compared to 2.8 nationally). Brisbane bidding activity also remains particularly high at 3.3 active bidders

Clearance rates also remain high, despite an increase in stock levels. In September, it reached 74.5 per cent across all Ray White auctions. This is only slightly lower than August when it reached 75.6 per cent.

MARKET TURNOVER

Strong market conditions resulted in close to $7 billion of sales for the Ray White Group in September. This was 14 per cent higher than last September. While New South Wales remains the largest component of the total, the biggest uplift was seen in Western Australia and South Australia.