Homebuyers in Townsville are finding fewer options available, despite an increase in new listings in January compared to a year ago. According to the most recent report by PropTrack Listings, there has been a significant increase of 39.6% in new listings in Townsville on realestate.com.au from December to January.

Nevertheless, there was a 15.7 percent decrease in new listings compared to the previous year. The number of listings in the capital of North Queensland decreased by 2.1% compared to the previous month and by 28.1% compared to January 2023.

According to Angus Moore, a senior economist and author of the report, this pattern was also observed across Queensland. In the broader regional Queensland area, there was a 34.9% increase in new listings from December to January, although there was a 5.2% decrease compared to January 2023.

Listings increased by 0.4% on a monthly basis but decreased by 12.6% compared to the previous year. In Brisbane, there was a significant increase in new listings in January, with a month-on-month rise of 89.3% and a year-on-year increase of 4.8%.

“Even so, it was still a slower-than-usual start to the year (in Brisbane),” Mr Moore said.

“The number of new listings in January was around 7 per cent lower than what has been typical for January over the past decade.”

According to Mr. Moore, the total number of listings in Brisbane increased by 5.8% compared to the previous month but decreased compared to the previous year.

“The total number of properties listed for sale across Brisbane was 15.1 per cent lower than a year ago and was down more than 45 per cent from pre-pandemic,” he said.According to Mr. Moore, listing activity in Australia has increased since January 2023.

“Sydney and Melbourne experienced a particularly busy start to 2024 for new listings, while some other markets remain a bit more subdued,” he said.

All major cities experienced a rise in new listings compared to the previous month, with Perth being the only exception, showing a decrease from the previous year. When examining the yearly new listing figures, Brisbane ranked below Darwin (125.5%), Canberra (102.7%), Melbourne (27.8%), Sydney (27.7%), and Adelaide (9.9%), but ahead of Hobart (4.3%) and Perth (-0.4%).

The capital city market experienced a significant surge in new listings, with a substantial month-on-month increase of 115.2% and an annual increase of 16.9%. In the regional market, new listings saw a significant increase of 21.6% in January and 16.9% for the year.

“More activity in property markets than we were seeing in early 2023 is being supported by strong demand, very low unemployment, population growth, tight rental market conditions, and a more stable outlook for interest rates,” Mr Moore said.

“After raising interest rates in November, the RBA held steady in February – a widely anticipated decision.

“Inflation appears to be coming under control sooner than the RBA had initially anticipated.

“While there is a possibility of further interest rate increases if inflation turns out to be more entrenched than currently expected, financial markets are not expecting that will occur.

“Instead, financial markets are now expecting a reasonable chance that interest rates will decline later in the year.”

Editors Publicspectrum

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