Although Sydney and Melbourne saw declines, other Australian capitals did not, with views per ad up 38% in Adelaide, 18% in Brisbane and 2% in Perth over the 12 last months.
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But even buyer interest in these capitals has plummeted since peaking earlier in the year, Dr Powell said.
“There’s still an element of being more affordable than Sydney and Melbourne that continues to drive views,” Dr Powell said. “Other pilots in Brisbane are the upcoming Olympics and high interstate migration.”
Dr Powell said the frenetic market activity of 2021, in Sydney and Melbourne, was now slowing with “the real estate pendulum swinging back in favor of buyers”.
Sydney’s Cooley Auctions auctioneer Michael Garofolo said sellers were now competing to sell in a market that was seeing fewer bidders turn up for auction and crowds open for inspections were getting smaller.
Prices, however, held up, he said.
Michael Garofolo of Cooley Auctions said the number of bidders was down.Credit:Peter Rae
“Compared to last year, the buyer pool has definitely changed,” Garofolo said. “It’s obviously because of the number of listings that have come into the market.”
Mr Garofolo said the average number of bidders for the company had fallen from 6.6 in March last year to 5 this year. Cooley Auctions’ clearance rates also fell, from a peak of 82% in March 2021 to 70% last month.
“Home value growth is slowing, but I would say the market is stable,” Garofolo said. “Properties are still selling and at good prices but FOMO [fear of missing out] it was now less.
In Melbourne, Barry Plant Real Estate director Mike McCarthy said many shares had recently come onto the market as agents expected to see fewer buyers turn up at auction.
Melbourne’s outer suburbs have yet to see the impact of the market downturn, Mr McCarthy said.Credit:iStock
“Anecdotally, the numbers are down slightly,” McCarthy said. “But really, we see the market getting back to normal.”
Sales in the outer suburbs, including the outer southeast, have yet to see a significant impact from the market downturn, although properties closer to town have fewer people open for inspections, did he declare.
“We see the lag effect that starts in the inner suburbs and rolls out to the outer suburbs,” he said. “I think we’re now seeing people coming into the market now [to list their property] who had been holding back for a while.
There had been a change in the number of sales where prices flew well above reserves, compared to last year when buyers worried they would find nowhere else to buy.
“There aren’t as many ‘well above’ results as we’ve seen because more supply and less demand comes into play,” McCarthy said.