Sales keep on sliding

THE number of properties being sold around Australia has fallen for a third consecutive year in a concerning trend for the real estate industry and state governments.

Sobering statistics released by CoreLogic showed the number of settled house and unit sales in the year to last month was down 7.7 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.

In all, 465,788 residential properties changed hands, the research company said.

Analyst Cameron Kusher said the number of settled transactions had been sliding since 2015, with some of the biggest falls in Melbourne and Sydney.

“Monthly sales volumes have been consistently lower than the 10-year average since May 2017,” Mr Kusher said.

In Sydney, settled sales transactions were 13.5 per cent lower than in the previous 12 months, and Brisbane’s sales transactions were dragged down by a big drop in settled unit sales.