An ‘old’ property listing is defined by SQM Research as being on the market for over 180 days. Recent SQM Research data showed that the number of old listings rose nationally by 8.8% during May, and by 6.2% in Melbourne. Across the past year, Melbourne’s old listings rose by 15.8%.
The reasons put forward by property experts include seasonal conditions, undesirable properties and unrealistic vendor expectations.
In an interview with Domain, Wendy suggests that Melbourne’s growing proportion of old listings could be due to investors attempting to sell poorly maintained or undesirable properties for unreasonable prices.
She says when a property is overpriced in the first instance, the process of eventual price adjustments extends the time a property is on the market. By the time the vendor accepts that they are not going to get their inflated asking price, those potential buyers have moved on and bought other properties so the sales campaign essentially starts again, targeting a whole new group of buyers in a different price bracket.
While there is always a slim chance of an uneducated buyer coming along and spending more on a property than they should, vendors with unrealistic expectations or a lack of awareness of current market conditions generally don’t benefit from having their property on the market for a prolonged period of time.
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