Cross sectional Analysis of time on Market indicators for an Australian City

Abstract

This paper reports on a cross sectional analysis of Time on Market (TOM) for the residential property market of an Australian City. The focus is an analysis of TOM across location and by dwelling type, rather than over time, during a period of relative market stability. The study examines TOM for a three month period from September to November 2010 for the city of Adelaide, Australia which is a geographically isolated but active market with over 20,000 residential transactions each year. The study reports on the factors which impact on TOM when examined by region using both descriptive analysis and statistical modelling. Data used in the study results from combining sale transaction records from the South Australian Government with details of property marketing collected from advertisements in newspapers and websites. The research investigates relationships between TOM and dwelling type (detached, semi-detached and home units), location (ten regions) and house size (main rooms). It also compares first to last advertised price across location and for each property type. The research shows that location and house size both have a significant impact on TOM. Therefore, an important finding of the study is that factors such as location and dwelling size need to be held constant in any analysis of TOM over time.