Ray White chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis is expecting January home sellers to do well at auctions after a late rush of homes onto the market in December last year.
A Boxing Day home listing spree has helped put Melbourne’s property market on track for an early rush of home sales this year.
New PropTrack data has revealed the city’s new listings in December were 10.2 per cent higher than they were in 2024, only topped by NSW and Canberra.
And a likely factor has been the state’s biggest real estate agency pushing hundreds of homes onto real estate websites in anticipation of an early start to the 2026 housing market, many of them hitting the market as Melburnians were kicking off Boxing Day sales shopping sprees.
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Ray White chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis said the firm would be running about 10 per cent more auctions in January than they did last year, with about 300 slated to test the market.
Mr Banitsiotis said the idea was to combine buyers who had missed out last year with those who had resolved to make a move while taking a break from work over summer.
“And our open homes are quite strong, for new stock,” he said.
“So I do think they will go well.”
Hotspots are expected to be around Ferntree Gully and Glen Waverley.
7A Charles St, Brighton East, hit the market on Boxing Day with Woodards in Elsternwick.
PropTrack economics executive manager Angus Moore said while lower than listings in December for 2020 and 2021 when the city was coming out of lockdowns, an increase from 2024s numbers showed higher seller confidence that had been on display in spring last year.
“That was consistent with the fact that Melbourne’s housing market conditions were firmer in 2025 than in 2024,” Mr Moore said.
“Notably, prices grew through much of the year, unlike in 2024.”
Barry Plant also recorded an 8 per cent up tick in new December listings last year, compared to 2024.
Chief executive Lisa Pennell said she wasn’t as convinced the uptick had been broadly across all Melbourne’s real estate firms, but noted the firm was “set up for a strong January”.
3 Leyland Rd, Ferntree Gully, hit the market on December 23.
Ms Pennell said it would be interesting to see how they responded to the new year and whether sellers confidence in the market across spring would be as strong as 2026 continued.
She added that talk of rate hikes this year might provide the impetus for some owners to become more realistic in their efforts to sell homes, but how the year played out between buyers and sellers still had a number of variables.
Jellis Craig chief executive Andrew McCann said they had also been listing heavily with a view towards engaging buyers across January, and that with the exception of more affluent markets around Boroondara, Stonnington and the upper end of Bayside, most markets were ready to fire up in January.
“People do seem to have more time to do things at this time of year,” Mr McCann said.
“On the 10th of January we had open for inspections with 40 groups attending. That’s a lack of supply, but also a keen audience who are keen to be out looking.”
He said the trend was covering most home types, and had been ramping up over the past few years.
“There’s a lot of people who don’t want to participate at the tail end of the year with Christmas coming. And they are trying the new year market, so it will be a bumper start.”
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