FRESH START

MICHELLE SINGER

IT’S the second day of spring and if you haven’t already done so, now is as good a time as any to refresh your browser to look for that dream property.

At a time when Hobart house and unit listings are down up to 40 per cent, spring is traditionally the time when vendors emerge from hibernation like daffodils to sell their home.

Despite interstate lockdowns and economic uncertainty, 2021 looks to be no different.

“Here in Tasmania, the cycle of lockdown has been largely avoided thus far, although its prospect is on everyone’s lips,” Peterswald for Property managing director Kim Morgan says.

“Despite the broader circumstances, our property market continues to go from strength to strength and in my opinion, it seems likely that in the last 8 to 10 weeks, we may have seen growth in the order of 5 per cent across the market sectors of which I am familiar.”

Expansive demand and chronically low supply are two key factors – throw in historically low interest rates and it’s the perfect storm for growth.

But there are signs stock levels are about to rise as it does during spring every year, with research showing in the decade to December 2019 new listings in Hobart rise on average 15.3 per cent between September and November.

The uptick in new listings might satiate some demand, but Mr Morgan doesn’t expect it to impact short-term market conditions in any significant way.

“There’s a lot of stock about to come into the market that will of course have an effect,” he says.

“But in theory every seller is a buyer. We see this every spring.

“A lot of people wait to put their property on the market but so many people have been holding off putting their property on their market as now they feel there will be more buyers.

“But in my 23 years I haven’t experienced a market like this,” he says.

“It’s almost a generational thing. “I can’t see how the rate of growth were seeing can be sustainable.

“At some point there will be a trigger and this rate of growth will be mitigated and settle down a bit.

“But with the strong demand from locals and interstate buyers, we expect there to be continue growth for a little while yet.”