Sydney and Melbourne are defying a slow market with both units and houses taking about 30 days on the market to sell.
Other capital cities are seeing an average time on the market as high as 74 days, according to RP Data statistics based on November sales.
In Sydney, the top five fastest selling suburbs for houses, topped by Collaroy Plateau at 20 days, are more expensive than the median value of $556,887. The fastest selling units, on the other hand, are characterized by all being within 20 km of the CBD. The top of that list was Mortdale, at 21 days.
The opposite is true in Melbourne, where the majority of fastest growing houses were below the median house price, led by Bayswater at 19 days on the market. The fastest selling suburb for units around the city was Hughesdale, at 16 days.
In other parts of the country, it was clear some owners would rather delay selling their property than sell quickly and cut their losses.
In Brisbane, for example, the average time it takes to sell a unit has doubled. The time it takes to sell a house there has also slowed significantly.
Brisbane and Adelaide showed a substantial increase in time on the market for houses and units, while Darwin and Perth remained unchanged but relatively high. In Brisbane, the average time on the market for a unit in November 2007 was 20 days, compared to 43 days at the same time in 2008. Houses went from 24 to 37 days.
Adelaide houses went from 56 to 72 days, and units rose from 48 to 63 days. Canberra units also showed a major shift, taking 52 days as opposed to 33 days a year earlier.
RP Data Senior Research Analyst Cameron Kusher pointed out it was also interesting that Darwin and Adelaide had the longest times to sell property based on the latest figures, but also were the only two to record positive value growth through 2008.
"This is likely representative of the fact vendors are holding out for a better sales price," Kusher said.
Some suburbs within the slower selling regions have bucked the trend, however. In Brisbane, for example, Milton, Everton Park and Newmarket have time on market averages of 15, 16 and 17 days respectively. Houses in wealthy Dalkeith outside of Perth have an average of just 17 days on the market.
