Tasmanian homes are taking almost twice as long to sell, with an average of 47 days on the market, compared to last year.
The Real Estate Institute’s report for the June quarter blames multiple rate hikes for dampening the market, while the possibility of rent freezes is also seeing investor activity dry up, down nearly half year on year.
There were nearly 2400 sales for the quarter, down 10 per cent on the same time last year.
Sales numbers were down 23 per cent to levels seen about a decade ago, while the purchase of Tassie real estate by mainlanders has nearly halved.
For the June quarter, Burnie had the most sales for a single location with 72, followed by Devonport on 58 and then Kingston, while Launceston achieved the most out of all municipalities with 276.
Across the major population centres, median house prices fell 7.3% in Hobart, 3.6% in Launceston and 2.3% across the North-West over the last financial year.
“The fall in median prices does not necessarily mean that house prices have fallen. What it does mean is that the largest proportion of sales are occurring in the middle to lower levels of our market,” said the report.
“Interest rate increases have eroded the amounts that purchasers can borrow, and they are now buying at significantly lower levels than they could 12 to 18 months ago.”
The report had some good news for tenants, vacancy rates hitting a three-year high.
