Property listings surge 500% in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs

The number of properties for sale in Sydney’s swish Eastern Suburbs has jumped nearly 500% in one month.

Residz Team 2/27/2022 4:48:55 AM 2 min read

Homebuyers finally have some choice. The number of properties for sale in Sydney’s swish Eastern Suburbs has jumped nearly 500% in one month.

According to PropTrack Listings Report February 2022, new listings surged in January in the East by 497%, around five times the number of listings than the month before (North Sydney and Hornsby also saw a big jump in the number of properties for sale in January, with month-on-month increases of 485.2%).

So, what’s going on?

Given there are more Eastern Suburbs workers stating their career as “professional” than any other occupation (ABS 2016), this keenness to sell could suggest a few things:

They’ve seen the news articles. Professionals read the news and no doubt talk of the Reserve Bank of Australia lifting interest rates this year, and Westpac’s predictions of a 14 per cent drop in house prices sometime next year and into 2024, are factors in many deciding to list early in 2022.
They want a change of lifestyle. Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs already offer a great lifestyle for those who can afford it, but many professionals offered a choice of remote or hybrid work might use their strong buying power to get larger or more choice blocks of land elsewhere in Sydney.
They’re going regional. Or overseas. Some might have reevaluated their lives while in lockdown, and now wish to embrace part-time work, or the freedom of being digital nomads. This could mean a tree change for some, and a stint overseas for others.
They held off in 2021. The long Sydney lockdown in the second half of 2021 might have delayed some of the listings until now.
They’re competitive. Buyer demand isn’t as frenzied as it was in late 2021 so some sellers will be fearful of missing out on enthusiastic house hunters.
They’ve got a nuisance neighbour. A Relationships Australia survey before the pandemic found 60 per cent of people reported they’d had a conflict with a neighbour. Lockdown could have eased, or exacerbated, a neighbour issue.
They decided to sell over a glass of Christmas punch. The third glass of Aunt Enya’s heavily spiked Christmas punch did it. With barely an hour’s discussion on the subject behind them, they’ve listed the house and now have a whopping great sign on their front lawn, and a real estate agent in a suit brandishing an iPad on their doorstep.
They’re cashing in. Perhaps they’ve renovated and want to recoup the considerable costs of doing up a house during a supply-challenged pandemic. Perhaps retirement is the motivator, and they’re eyeing off the tax-free income they can get from the sale of their family home. Or, perhaps they owe the bank so much they need to sell.
They’re trading up. They’ve listed their unit, and are looking forward to buying their first house.

PropTech says overall it’s been the busiest January for capital city new listings in eight years. New listings across the capital cities surged 55.6% compared to December, and listings in January 2022 were up 15.9% compared to January 2021

Image: Vaucluse, NSW, Wikipedia