It seemed like the spring selling season in Australia's housing market was already in full swing in October as listings surged, particularly in two capital cities, according to the latest market update by SQM Research.
Residential property listings increased by 6.5% in the month, driven by the substantial boost in listings in Melbourne and the gains in all capital cities.
"It seems like we are moving back to the usual spring selling season with all capital city listings rising in October," said Louis Christopher, managing director at SQM Research.
Christopher said Melbourne has reported a significant spike in listings after the stage four restrictions were relaxed at the end of September. In fact, listings in Melbourne went up by 26.7%, the highest growth among all capital cities. Sydney and Canberra followed with 8.4% gains in listings over the month.
"We are expecting another big rise in listings during the month of November for Melbourne," he said.
On an annual basis, only listings in Melbourne and Sydney registered gains, at 22% and 13.6%, respectively.
The number of new listings, which comprise properties put up for sale over the past 30 days, increased by 27.5% in October. This was largely attributed to the 322.6% increase in Melbourne.
The table below shows the property listings across capital cities in October:
