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A Message From Dan White
It might not have been a big spring bounce, but it was definitely a bounce. And we’ll happily take it!
We recorded $5.6 billion worth of sales in Australia, in November 2022. While this was a solid lift from the $5.1 billion in October, it was 28 per cent less than what we recorded in November 2021.
It’s understandable that many may look at the comparison to our November 2021 results and think that we’re in a soft market. To illustrate how strong the market was last November, our November 2022 sales results were well up on October 2020 and October 2019, by 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
What didn’t bounce in November was the value or new listings that came on the market. The value of residential stock listed for sale during the month was $6 billion, nearly identical to what we listed in October. This was somewhat of a surprise, as we expected that the stabilisation of auction clearance rates and auction bidder numbers would create more confidenece in potential vendors to come to market.
There were three acts in the Australian real estate story of 2022. The first act of the year started as 2021 ended, with more properties being sold than were being listed. Even though auction bidder numbers were in slight decline for the first time in a few years, the process of selling properties and achieving a premium price was flowing well., and new listings continued to rise. These are the hallmarks of a great market for our industry.
The second act started around May. While new listings continued to rise, the amount of property being sold was in decline. During this period, the amount of property on the market began to climb for the first time. ‘Stock in’ wasn’t a problem, though we needed to be more precise in how we managed the sale of our listings to achieve results that met the expectations of our vendor customers.
In the final act of the year which started in October, new listings are in decline for the first time since May 2020. And so while ‘Stock in’ had become a challenge, we also remained challenged to achieve sales results.
The conditions we’re now in are emblematic of conditions most common in our history. It’s the conditions we actually know best. Trust is built over a longer period of time, and there is no shortcut to creating competition for our vendors. It’s a market that rewards those who seek to be proud of every relationship and transaction.
During November, we were responsible for more than 22 per cent of all scheduled auctions across Australia. That is five times more than the next largest group. We’re proud of that because it means we are creating more competition than any other group.
We’d like to thank all our members for their hard work and commitment throughout the year, and our customers for their ongoing support.
Dan White
Managing Director
Ray White Group