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Speaker 1: New data from DOMAIN has found that new supply on

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Speaker 1: the Darwin property market fell over the month of April

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Speaker 1: to the second lowest on record. Now, days on the

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Speaker 1: market for houses fell for a second successive month as well,

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Speaker 1: while days on the market for units fell for a

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Speaker 1: third month in a row. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 1: line to tell us more is Domain's chief of Research

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Speaker 1: and Economics, doctor Nicola Powell. Good morning to you, Nikola.

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Speaker 2: And very good morning.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me we'll talk me through the numbers when

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Speaker 1: it comes to new supply on the Darwin property market.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when we look at new listings over April, they

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Speaker 2: did four six percent over the month compared to March.

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Speaker 2: So sorry, they failed twenty four percent, not six percent,

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Speaker 2: twenty four percent. It was total supply that fell six percent,

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Speaker 2: but new supply fell twenty seven percent year on year. Now,

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Speaker 2: we expected that in April because April, obviously we had

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Speaker 2: back to back long weekends. We also had an election

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Speaker 2: that I think does distract by and sellers. But I

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Speaker 2: think overall, what we're seeing even when you look at

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Speaker 2: total supply, total supplies also down and those were the

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Speaker 2: figures that I led with that total suppliers fell fell

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Speaker 2: six percent over the month of down thirty one percent

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Speaker 2: year on year. So I think while new listings is tightening,

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Speaker 2: overall supply is also tightening. So I think what we're

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Speaker 2: starting to see is a little bit more by a

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Speaker 2: competition coming out.

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Speaker 1: So what does it like? So what does that really mean?

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Speaker 1: I suppose if you're looking to buy a house.

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Speaker 2: So it is interesting when you weave that in for pricing.

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Speaker 2: When we look at house prices across Starwin, they did

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Speaker 2: increase over the most recent quarter. And what we've got

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Speaker 2: is house prices now at the highest point that we've

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Speaker 2: seen since twenty fifteen, so they're just under six hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty thousand dollars. I think what it was starting

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Speaker 2: to see is supply is starting to shrink, and what

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Speaker 2: that means is it's increasing by a competition a little

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Speaker 2: bit and that's coming out with price growth. And this

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Speaker 2: is what we're seeing across some of our other capital

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Speaker 2: cities now. I think, particularly Laid with a rate cart

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Speaker 2: that's given by a little bit more confidence and I

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Speaker 2: think with the expectation that rates are going to be

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Speaker 2: reduced and we're expecting another four this year, I think

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Speaker 2: that is enough to provide a bit more confidence for buyers.

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Speaker 1: And so Nikolas, does that then mean as well, you

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Speaker 1: know when a house does go on the market, how

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Speaker 1: long is it staying on the market? Is it being

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Speaker 1: picked up faster?

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Speaker 2: We have seen homes are now transacting quicker than they were.

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Speaker 2: When you look at days on market, it has declined

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Speaker 2: over the month for houses and for units. It's slightly

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Speaker 2: different depending upon the area. So Darwin City, for example,

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Speaker 2: the average time on market is one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: seven days for our house, but it is a bit diverse,

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Speaker 2: so the suburbs out in the suburbs one hundred and

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Speaker 2: thirty two days are slightly quicker. So it is different

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Speaker 2: that we're starting to see that days on market reduced.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And when it comes to units, what are

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Speaker 1: we sort of seeing when it comes to our unit sales?

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Speaker 2: So when we look at units, they've also fallen. I

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Speaker 2: mean you look on days on market, it's now the

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Speaker 2: lowest that we've seen in over and over a year.

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Speaker 2: And when we look at unit prices, we've seen them

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Speaker 2: kind of flatline. They reduce slightly over the most recent quarter,

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Speaker 2: but unit prices are fairly steady over the quarter, but

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Speaker 2: they have declined compared to this time last year, but

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Speaker 2: only by about four percent, so we're not calling really

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Speaker 2: big falls in unit prices. And I think when you

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Speaker 2: look at Darwin, the preferences houses, they make up the

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Speaker 2: larger pool of housing stock and I think we see

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Speaker 2: that coming out in price growth as well.

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Speaker 1: And how do we compare to other states and other

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Speaker 1: locations when you look at you know, the number of

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Speaker 1: days on market and also look at I guess you

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Speaker 1: know how like how how many you know, how many

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Speaker 1: copies we've gone on the market.

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Speaker 2: So it is it is different when you look at

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Speaker 2: overall days on market for houses in Darwin, so the

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Speaker 2: Greater Darwin region it's on average one hundred and forty

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Speaker 2: nine days at the moment that as we discussed as

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Speaker 2: fallen month or months, but it is high when you

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Speaker 2: compare it to other capital cities. So some of our

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Speaker 2: quicker property markets for transactions is actually being led by Perth.

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Speaker 2: So you know Western Australia thirty five days the average

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Speaker 2: time a house spends on the market across Greater Perth,

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Speaker 2: So that's that capital city figure. Darwin always tends to

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Speaker 2: have slightly higher days on market relative to other capital

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Speaker 2: cities and when you compare it to say earlier in

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Speaker 2: the year. You know, back in February the average days

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Speaker 2: on market in Darwin was one hundred and eighty days,

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Speaker 2: so it has dropped by about thirty days over the

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Speaker 2: recent months.

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Speaker 1: What about when you look look at vacancy rights, what's

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Speaker 1: the lightest start to show when it comes to those.

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Speaker 2: Rates, So vacancy rates, So this looks obviously the balance

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Speaker 2: between rental supply and demand and the vacancy rate gives

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Speaker 2: a really good indication of whether it's a LANLDS market

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Speaker 2: or whether it's a tenants market. And that vacancy rate

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Speaker 2: in Darwin is sitting at zero point five percent. So

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Speaker 2: what that tells us it is still a landlolds market

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Speaker 2: in Darwin. For a balanced rental market, we do like

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Speaker 2: that vacancy rate to be sitting between two and three percent,

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Speaker 2: So ato point five percent, that is very low and

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Speaker 2: that's one of the lowest that we've seen for Darwin

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Speaker 2: in terms of its vacancy rate. What that tells us

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Speaker 2: for tenants out there it is still competitive. I think

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Speaker 2: across the rental space. We know Darwin's rental market and

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Speaker 2: overall population dynamics are quite transient so there is a

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Speaker 2: lot of flows and flows from the Northern territory to

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Speaker 2: other states and territories, but also in as well, and

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Speaker 2: that does place demand on the rental space, but it

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Speaker 2: is low and that does mean that there is a

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Speaker 2: bit more competition I think out there for tenants.

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Speaker 1: I have got a listener question somebody messaging through saying,

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Speaker 1: what's the total listings of houses available for Darwin?

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Speaker 2: Not sure if you don't have the Yeah, don't have

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Speaker 2: the actual figure the total listings. But when we have

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Speaker 2: a look at what we've seen in terms of it changing,

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Speaker 2: it is down year on year by thirty one percent

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Speaker 2: and down over the months by six percent.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So not a huge amount of stock I

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Speaker 1: suppose on the market compared to other years.

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Speaker 2: We have seen it shrink, and I think that's it's

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Speaker 2: not necessarily the total figure the number that is interesting.

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Speaker 2: What's more interesting is what we're seeing in terms of

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Speaker 2: the changes, and particularly those trend changes. We're seeing consistent

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Speaker 2: declines in the overall stock or whether it's actually rising.

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Speaker 2: And one of those things Sport for Darwin is that

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Speaker 2: we have started to see it the decline.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, Nikola. When you look predictions for the coming quarter.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that we're going to sort of stay

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Speaker 1: the same or what do you think we might say?

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Speaker 2: Look, we do obviously have changing economic conditions, and what

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Speaker 2: I mean by that is, you know, we've seen rates

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Speaker 2: being reduced once, we're expecting rates to be reduced again

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Speaker 2: in May, and we're expecting more rate cuts to come

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Speaker 2: out this year. When you've see rate cuts coming through,

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Speaker 2: it does tend to play out positively for the housing market.

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Speaker 2: And what that means is we tend to see greater

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Speaker 2: rates of price growth and greater levels of housing market

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Speaker 2: turnover because obviously a rate reduction improves borring power and

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Speaker 2: can be the driver to make people come to market.

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Speaker 2: I think, you know, when you compare it to recent

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Speaker 2: years where we've seen you rate hikes and what that

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Speaker 2: has done for mortgage affordability, I think the fact that

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Speaker 2: we're now in a rate loosening cycle, I think what

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Speaker 2: we're likely to see is that is going to bring

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Speaker 2: more people to market.

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Speaker 1: Domain Chief of Research and Economics, Doctor Nicola Powell. It's

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Speaker 1: always good to catch up with you. Really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thank you, thank you, Thanks so much,