Listings up, buyers down

According to housing finance data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, weakness persists in the housing sector, with the total number of owner occupier housing finance commitments falling by 4.5 per cent in January.

Once refinances are removed from these figures, housing finance volumes were down 6.5 per cent for the month.

In comparison to January 2010, total owner occupier commitments are now 2.2 per cent lower, and when refinances are removed, finance commitments are 10.7 per cent lower.

The poor housing data can be largely attributed to the dramatic drop-off in first home buyer activity as well as increasing property prices.

Property prices have increased by as much as 20 per cent in the last two years.

Despite the sharp increase in average property prices, consumers are still more optimistic than pessimistic.

Westpac and the Melbourne Institute released their monthly Consumer Sentiment Survey results last month to show consumer sentiment had fallen by 2.4 per cent in February to 104.1 points. This is still slightly above the 100 point mark, which represents the balance between consumer optimism and pessimism.

This optimism is reflected in the numbers of property listings. According to RP Data findings, total advertised listings are now 24.2 per cent higher than they were at the same time last year. Within capital cities, listings are 29.1 per cent higher than last year.

According to RP Data’s senior research analyst, Cameron Kusher, there is a clear disconnect between the number of properties being brought to the market and activity amongst buyers, with recent data showing sales volumes were 20 per cent below 10-year average levels during 2010.

“The issue is there is not enough active first home buyer or investors in the market currently to allow them to sell their property,” Mr Kusher said.