How long does it take to sell a home in Hobart? The answer: On average, 89 days
It wasn’t so long ago that Hobart was piping hot property; investors and relocating mainlanders were flocking to the Apple Isle to secure a piece of real estate.
House prices shot up 28 per cent in 2021 – and the average property took just 17 days to sell.
But the latest data paints a very different picture, with average days on market in the state capital ballooning to 89 days, up from 66 days a year ago. Meanwhile overall listings are standing 35 per cent higher than the five year average, according to Domain data.
“Hobart is a small market but that’s quite significant,” said Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell. “Hobart has seen weakness for a couple of years now.”
PRD Hobart sales agent Marnie Reed said the local market’s performance was “below baseline”.
“The number of buyers in the market is probably better than [the] global financial crisis, but it’s not a normal market,” she said.
“Because we are a micro economy, we don’t necessarily follow the same trend as our mainland counterparts. We can boom when the mainland is in a dive.”
Or vice versa.
Hobart’s housing market is out of step with other capital cities, the majority of which have recovered from the property price falls of late 2022 that followed the huge upswing during the pandemic.
House prices in Hobart fell 2.3 per cent in the last financial year, according to Domain data. The median house price is currently $686,053 – roughly 10 per cent or $76,000 below the March 2022 price peak.
Rents in Hobart have also bucked the national trend, with median house rents falling $10 in the June quarter. It is the only capital city in which house rents are below their record. However, unit rents have remained steady.
Alongside inflation and high interest rates, the state’s slowing population growth is also affecting the local economy and housing market.
Last year, Tasmania’s population grew by just 0.4 per cent, well below the national average. In its recent population policy, the state government acknowledged that, without proper planning, it faced a slowing economy and a shrinking workforce.
“The overall trend for net interstate migration has been negative so that is a drain away for population, and that will be one of the dynamics creating this weakness,” Powell said.
But by no means is the Hobart property market in free-fall.
Insitu Property’s Nina Schubert said most of her listed properties were selling after two open homes.
“The buyer feedback in the market is that there is a lot of poor quality stock on the market and they’re struggling to find decent properties,” she said.
“I present my properties very well. We paint, we replace carpet. They’re beautiful.”
Schubert said enquiries were up compared to 12 months ago, when buyers were reeling from successive interest rate hikes.
“I’ve got a lot more first-home buyers back in the market,” she said. “No stamp duty on up to $750,000 [in Tasmania] has really changed the game.”
Investors “are around but they’re looking for a bargain”, Schubert added.
PRD’s Marnie Reed said she had noticed investor numbers increasing. “About a year ago, [investor] enquiry was down to around 11 per cent of our enquiry base but for whatever reason, we’re getting more,” she said.
“If people are astute or savvy they would see it as an opportune buy in Hobart before we get another boom.”
She said current market dynamics meant prospective buyers could “take their time to make a choice.”
“They’re not necessarily going to get a crazy bargain but they can go away and think about it.”
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