The insane figure was revealed by realestate.com.au, with properties appearing on the site at a historic low for May, according it its new housing report.
It dropped from an average of 37 days on site in April, but eager house hunters were even quicker to buy up in some states with properties appearing on the site for just 24 days in the ACT, 27 days in NSW and 28 days in Victoria.
In South Australia, records were also broken, yet demand isn’t as high with properties spending 43 days listed on the site.
Anne Flaherty, realestate.com.au economist, said the property market continues to boom with demand outpacing supply in May.
“We are seeing properties sell at record speed so buyers are having to move quickly to compete in these market conditions,” she said.
“While demand may moderate over the coming winter months, views per listing increased in May and is now just shy of its historic high earlier this year.”
More Australians are looking for properties over $1 million price range than under $500,000, the report also revealed.
For the first time, there were more than twice as many searches on realestate.com.au for properties over $1 million than there were under $500,000. The main drivers of more expensive searches remains increased household saving and low borrowing costs, the report noted.
With 12 million people visiting realestate.com.au a month, the amount of searches for properties for sale on the site has dipped over recent weeks but remains 17.9 per cent higher than a year ago.
“While search volumes for properties for sale have dropped slightly, softening supply may help to sustain above average views per listing. We do expect that the winter market will remain unseasonably active due to continued heightened demand,” Ms Flaherty said.
“Investor inquiry is increasing, and we are seeing them return to the market, driven by the low cost of debt and expected capital growth. Interestingly, first homebuyer inquiry saw a slight rise in May after trending downwards since January.”
In bad news for first home buyers, Ms Flaherty predicted that despite the cold weather, property prices would still increase.
“I expect prices will continue to rise over winter, however, with slightly reduced demand, stimulus removed from the market, and rises in longer-term fixed rate mortgage rates, prices are likely to rise at a slower pace,” she noted.
The trend for Aussies looking for more space, after the pandemic increased working from home, also continues with the proportion of searches for three or four bedrooms in capital cities increasing by 3 percentage points to 66 per cent over the last 12 months.
Reference:
Australian housing market report: Average time it takes to sell a house is 32 days (news.com.au)