A MESSAGE FROM OUR MANAGING DIRECTOR
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 $ 5.1 billion in October , it was 28 per cent less than what we recorded in the heady days of November 2021 .
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 .
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 of 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 confidence 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 last year 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 .
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 ’ has 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 of our members for their hard work and commitment throughout the year , and our customers for their ongoing support .
We wish everyone the best for the holiday season .
Dan White Managing Director Ray White Group
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