Asking price spikes run ahead of the market

Housing prices in Sydney could rise even further in June as vendors remove their asking prices quicker than the market is rising and amid a swamp of new listings. The latest SQM Research data indicates vendor asking prices in Sydney rose to 6.1% in the rolling four weeks, ending May 4. In the past week alone, asking prices went up by $17,000.

A total of 15,919 new listings hit the Sydney market in April, increasing by 4.8% on the month before. Over the year, fresh listings increased by 80.7%.

"So far the market response has been encouraging as buyers reluctantly meet vendors' expectations" - Louis Christopher, SQM Research managing director.

"We have not seen any indication of a big dip in buyer demand or that sales turnover has fallen away sharply as a result of increased listings," he said.

"This big rise in asking price especially in Sydney, is happening after the strong March quarter, which kind of implies that the June quarter could be resonably stronger in terms of price growth."

Source: The Australian Financial Review 2021