Hobart’s fast movers
‘Unprecedented demand’ for Hobart property has shrunk the time it takes to sell a home to a nation-leading single-digit figure — have you got your eye on a home in these suburbs?
ARE Hobart homes flying off the shelves, or have buyers shifted to a more cautious approach around election time and through two interest rate rises?
In 12 month figures from PropTrack, realestate.com.au’s research division, Tasmania still had a stranglehold on the nation’s shortest time on market chart.
North Hobart and New Town share the No.1 spot, with houses typically selling in just eight days on the market.
Howrah, South Hobart and Launceston suburb Ravenswood were not far behind at a sharp nine days.
Meanwhile, St Leonards recorded the largest change in the time it took to sell (-78 per cent), which brought the suburb’s sell time to 10 days on market.
Tassie suburbs also made up 40 per cent of Australia’s Top 10 fastest moving suburbs for unit buyers, with Prospect Vale leading the way at 10 days, alongside Claremont, Sandy Bay and Howrah which took 12-13 days.
Harcourts Hobart agent and auctioneer, Ben Vance, was not surprised to hear many Hobart suburbs remained at the top of these charts.
He said while some of Australia’s larger cities had already come off the boil, it was common to see slowing effects in the Tassie market taking some time to filter through.
“We have had unprecedented demand for property here for some time. I reckon it could take six to 12 months for that demand to diminish,” Mr Vance said.
“It would take a lot more stock to come into the market before we see prices really levelling out and to create a more balanced market.
“Combine that with Hobart being so popular with interstate buyers. I’d be interested to see if the number of mainland buyers that make up our buyer pool, typically 20 per cent, has been higher in 2022.
“For months now, with the open borders, it feels like that number might have jumped up a bit to meet the backlog.
“A house I took to market in Howrah recently could have been sold 18 times over, that’s a lot of property there to come up with just to satisfy the needs of those buyers.”
PropTrack director of research Cameron Kusher said selling in just over one week was an “incredibly short time on market”.
“Hobart properties are very much in demand … people are hanging out for new listings to come to the market and move to secure a contract on these properties very quickly,” he said.
Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the spectrum, all of Tasmania’s slowest selling suburbs are located outside of the capital city, with Smithton (houses) the longest at 89 days.
Crisscrossing the state, Stieglitz, Zeehan and St Helens came in at 66, 66 and 60 days.
West Coast town Rosebery rounded out the top five with its 50 day average.
The state’s largest vendor discounts — the difference between an asking price and the eventual sale price — are in Strahan (-7.22 per cent), Fingal (-6.78 per cent), South Launceston (-6.32 per cent), Currie (5 per cent) and Blackmans Bay (-4.05 per cent).