Buyers favoured over sellers in Queensland: Commonwealth Bank home buyers index

At a national level, the ratio of buyers to effective supply across the Australian real estate market has shifted slightly in favour of buyers over the past three months, resulting in a housing market which remains balanced between buyers and sellers, the report noted.

Total advertised stock levels are generally in line with the number of home loans funded, suggesting that current market conditions, at least at a national level, are balanced. 

As at April 2015 across each state and territory the results were quite different; in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Northern Territory market conditions were skewed towards buyers. Every other state and territory was showing relatively balanced conditions. 

Conditions across the capital cities were typically more balanced or in favour of sellers, reflecting a different balance between advertised stock levels and demonstrated buyer demand in metropolitan versus regional housing markets.

The results also reflected the higher levels of buyer demand compared with stock levels which were occurring in the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide markets where overall conditions favour sellers rather than buyers. While Sydney and Melbourne have recorded significant value rises over the past year, Adelaide has recorded relatively soft capital growth conditions. 

The Commonwealth Bank–CoreLogic Home Buyers Index provides an indication of how well market conditions are suited to buyers or sellers, based on the ratio of properties advertised for sale compared with the number of housing loans which are being committed to by customers of Australia’s largest mortgage lender, Commonwealth Bank.