The easing of restrictions in the biggest capital cities over the past month have led to a new record for new listings.

REA Group’s latest PropTrack Listings Report showed a 21.9% monthly growth in new listings in October, hitting the highest number on record.

October was the busiest month for new listings on realestate.com.au since October 2018.

PropTrack economist Angus Moore said the growth in new listings was due to October becoming the peak of the spring selling season in most capital cities, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra.

“In-person inspections were able to resume in mid-September, supporting seller confidence,” Mr Moore said.

“Some sellers who had wanted to list in August or September may have waited until October because of restrictions, contributing to the strong activity over the month.”

Melbourne clocked the biggest monthly gain in new listings, up by 35% in October.

Canberra followed with a 30.2% increase while Sydney came after with a 26.2% growth.

Darwin and Hobart reported declines in new listings over the month, down by 10.3% and 7.1%, respectively.

Buyers in regional areas still have limited options despite the recent uptick in new listings.

“While listings picked up by 7.4% in October, which helped lift the total stock of properties available for sale regionally, available supply remains close to historic lows, and is down more than 30% year-on-year,” Mr Moore said.

New listings have fallen in the regional markets of South Australia, Tasmania, and Northern Territory.

In terms of total listings, the regional areas in New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania recorded the most significant declines.

Looking ahead, Mr Moore said buyer demand is likely to remain elevated through to the end of the year and into 2022 amid a challenging lending environment.

“The market is faced with APRA’s tightening of how banks conduct serviceability assessments, which will constrain how much some buyers can lend, along with the RBA flagging an increased possibility that rates may rise earlier than expected,” he said.

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Photo by Paula-Jorunn Naes on Unsplash.