Adelaide’s property market normalising after huge growth

A return to Adelaide’s traditional seasonally-led buying and selling cycle has caused a lull in the property market, but it’s not expected to last long.

Property experts say it has been the quietest winter period since the start of Covid when demand rapidly accelerated and prices skyrocketed.

It comes as latest PropTrack figures show total listings remained relatively stagnant in the year to August (up just 0.1 per cent) compared to the same time the previous year, while new properties to the market were down 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, SQM Research data for the same period shows listings were up 2.1 per cent on the previous year to 8363 in August, while new listings were down 5 per cent, with 3856 hitting the market in August.

OC executive director Nathan Casserly said several factors had caused people to hold off on buying and selling, including travel to warmer places during winter.

“I think we had quite a lag and long recovery from the federal election, the US election and the effects of global conflict like tariffs being thrown around, the creates uncertainty,” he said.

“We definitely feel like we’ve seen a lag and maybe normalisation from a seasonal point of view.

“This winter felt like the most normal or dormant since Covid.”

Mr Casserly said his agency was already seeing that change.

OC executive director Nathan Casserly.

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“We have seen some increase in buyer numbers in the last two to three weeks,” he said.

“We might see more stock coming on the market through the school holiday period.

“If interest rates are reduced too, that confidence does see more transactions.”

He said sellers’ price expectations likely weren’t the reason total listing numbers remained relatively unchanged despite new listings lagging as they didn’t seem to be any higher than normal.

“If buyers and sellers could agree on price we probably wouldn’t need real estate agents to be mediators,” he said.

REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh said the numbers were reflective of the fact that conditions in Adelaide were normalising after an extended period of exceptional growth.

“However, Adelaide’s market is still under-supplied,” she said.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh.

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“Even with total listings flat on August 2024 levels, Adelaide’s for sale stock is still about half its pre-pandemic level, which keeps competition elevated and supports prices.

“New supply is softer compared to August 2024, but turnover hasn’t accelerated enough to drain the pool of total listings.

“The result is stable total listings but at a historically low level.

“For buyers, that means similar choice to last year but far less than 2019.

“For sellers, it means pricing power remains intact, provided demand holds.”