More homes hitting the market, as seller confidence grows
It’s potentially good news for buyers, as low supply was a major element pushing prices higher last year
2 min
A low supply of homes for sale was a key factor pushing prices higher last year, in defiance of well-established historical trends in which home values always fall when interest rates rise. But the tide may be turning in buyers’ favour, with PropTrack data showing a 22 percent increase in new listings coming onto the market across the combined capital cities last month compared to February 2023.
Senior REA economist Angus Moore said the 22 percent lift was the highest increase in new listings across the capitals for the month of February since 2012. “Property markets in capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne especially, saw a strong start to 2024, with the busiest January and February since 2012 across the combined capital cities,” Mr Moore said.
“Supporting this busier start to the year … was strong demand, unemployment that remained low by historical standards, strong population growth, tight rental market conditions, and a more stable outlook for interest rates.”
The Reserve Bank announced on Tuesday that interest rates would remain on hold for a third consecutive month at 4.35 percent.
“Markets are no longer expecting a further increase in interest rates, with an expectation of cuts as soon as the second half of this year,” Mr Moore said.
The biggest increases in new listings were seen in Melbourne with 35.4 percent more homes for sale, along with Sydney at 33.6 percent and Canberra at 32.2 percent. There was an 8.5 percent increase in listings in Brisbane, and only a 2.1 percent increase in Perth and a 1.1 percent increase in Adelaide. Listing numbers dipped slightly in Hobart and Darwin.
There was a 7.8 percent increase in new listings across the combined regional areas, with last month’s volume broadly in line with the pace of activity that has been typical for the month of February over the past decade. The biggest increases in new listings were in regional Victoria at 12.8 percent, regional NSW at 12.2 percent and regional Tasmania at 9.8 percent. Mr Moore said that while new listings increased only 1.6 percent in regional Queensland, this was the first year-on-year increase in new listings recorded since August 2022.
Senior REA data analyst Karen Dellow said recent data from realestate.com.au’s Residential Audience Pulse Survey showed homeowners were feeling more confident to sell. The survey revealed that one in ten owners were contemplating selling their property when the survey was taken in January. Seller confidence has shot up, with 43 percent of respondents considering it a favourable time to sell, up from 34 percent last year.
“Western Australia has the highest seller sentiment, with 63 percent of respondents expressing optimism about the current market, marking a substantial 70.3 percent increase from last year,” Ms Dellow said. “NSW, Queensland, and South Australia have also witnessed substantial growth in seller sentiment over the past year, with NSW up 53.8 percent.”
Ms Dellow said the primary drivers behind increasing seller confidence were rising prices and growing buyer demand. More than a third of sellers anticipated further price rises in the next six months, the survey showed.
“Lifestyle changes, such as relocating to a different area or seeking a property with specific amenities like a pool or more space, were the primary motivations for selling. Downsizing ranked second, reflecting the preferences of Australia’s ageing population seeking properties better suited to their evolving needs.”
From making unpopular decisions to learning when to listen, leaders from five businesses reveal what nobody prepared them for — and how running a company has challenged their expectations.
Technology and semiconductor shares fell sharply as investors questioned the debt financing the AI infrastructure boom and confronted higher rates and Chinese competition.
Elon Musk is exploring a potential merger between Tesla and SpaceX, a deal that could reshape the future of AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles and space technology. With a combined valuation potentially reaching $3.5 trillion, the move could bring Musk’s vision of an interconnected technology ecosystem closer to reality, although a deal remains uncertain.
5 min
Elon Musk has engineered ties between Tesla TSLA 3.41%increase; up pointing triangle and SpaceX SPCX 7.79%increase; up pointing triangle that are hard to break, and now he wants to fuse them together permanently.
Musk has run both Tesla and SpaceX concurrently over the past two decades, using a schedule that dictated which days he spent focused on each business.
The companies have often shared resources and personnel, signaling their close ties. Last year, SpaceX looked into creating a spacesuit for Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus, a person familiar with the matter said. Tesla last week showed off its new Roadster, a vehicle featuring SpaceX rocket thrusters that it hopes to soon bring to market.
And in recent months, Musk has repositioned both companies by expanding beyond their core operations toward a shared mission centered on artificial intelligence.
The world’s richest man on Tuesday signaled his interest in tying up SpaceX and Tesla, marking what would be the biggest corporate merger of all time. Because he serves as chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk said committees of independent directors at both companies are evaluating a possible deal, adding that a transaction might not come to fruition.
The committees will likely evaluate, with lawyers and bankers, how each company would fare in a potential deal and how a deal might best be structured. They then present their conclusions to their respective boards, who typically vote on whether to proceed.
“It’s an odd Kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking and I can’t be in the conversation,” Musk told SpaceX investors on Tuesday in response to an analyst’s question about a potential deal.
For Musk, the merger supports his vision of a world full of autonomous cars, humanoid robots and weekly rocket launches, as well as the data centers and satellites required to keep the whole thing running.
Some investors and analysts said they expect a transaction would be structured as an all-stock deal, with SpaceX potentially paying a modest premium for Tesla shares.
SpaceX, which has a market value of about $2 trillion, said it is seeing sharp growth in revenue across its businesses, which include operating data centers, launching rockets and operating satellite networks such as the internet service Starlink. Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion and is expanding its operations beyond its automotive and energy business. Shares in both companies traded higher following the news Tuesday.
Musk’s substantial ownership stakes in both companies, along with voting control at SpaceX, has enabled him to set the deal in motion. Analysts and investors said the deal will probably face regulatory scrutiny internationally, though some see Musk’s close relationship with the Trump administration as an asset to getting approval.
Blurred lines
The companies haven’t said which directors are on the special committees evaluating a potential deal. Several SpaceX and Tesla board members have either personal or business ties to Musk. And like Musk, venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis sits on both boards.
In a filing this week, Tesla outlined millions of dollars in business agreements with SpaceX and its subsidiaries last year, including $143 million in car sales to SpaceX, $3.3 million in advertising that it bought on the social-media platform X and $430 million in revenue from the sale of Megapack batteries for SpaceX’s data centers.
The companies also split the cost of resources including the use of Musk’s SpaceX jet and the bill for his personal security, which he runs through a private company.
Employees at both companies routinely move between companies to work on special projects, and some executives have dual roles, including Charles Kuehmann, vice president of materials engineering at both SpaceX and Tesla, and Ashok Elluswamy, the vice president of AI software at Tesla who runs a joint venture with SpaceX called Digital Optimus.
Over the years, Musk has launched new startups within his empire, including brain-implant company Neuralink, underground-tunnel developer the Boring Company and xAI, the AI startup that merged with SpaceX in February.
It is that AI business that Musk thinks can serve a market worth tens of trillions of dollars, justifying the need for a merger.
The business case goes like this: Tesla is developing robotaxis and robots, which it calls “physical AI.” SpaceX is working on the back end of physical AI: the data-center capacity and internet connection required for those robotaxis and robots to operate continuously.
“I don’t see what the value of Tesla is if it’s not merged with SpaceX,” said investment adviser Ross Gerber, a former Tesla bull turned critic invested in both companies. “If they don’t merge, the brains of everything that runs Tesla is owned by another company.”
On top of it all, both companies face constraints on the supply chains they need to make this world a reality, particularly when it comes to chips. To address this, Musk earlier this year announced a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX and Intel to design and manufacture chips in Texas. “The most epic chip-building exercise by far,” he has said.
Musk at the wheel
For Musk, a merger would also solve two problems: demands on his attention and his lack of control at Tesla.
Tesla for years was Musk’s only public company, a status that came with greater scrutiny. There, Musk reports to a public board, as well as individual investors who make up around 30% of Tesla’s voting power, according to FactSet.
The question of Musk’s attention became a particular focus for investors and the board in recent years after he acquired Twitter in 2022 and launched xAI in 2023, and again in 2025 as he spent time in Washington, D.C., running the Department of Government Efficiency in the early months of President Trump’s second term.
As Tesla’s car business suffered in 2025, Musk threatened to take his AI ambitions outside the company if he wasn’t granted 25% voting control. Last November, Tesla shareholders approved a new pay package for Musk, which created a path for him to vastly expand his stake.
As of Sept. 30, Musk owned a roughly 20% stake in Tesla, according to the company’s proxy filing.
The SpaceX IPO gave Musk a different path. When SpaceX went public in June, the deal’s structure enabled him to have more than 80% voting power at the company—so much that he can’t be fired and decisions can’t be made without his support.
If SpaceX acquires Tesla, he will likely stay in control.
Queensland-based builder-developer MAYD has unveiled an exclusive first look at its anticipated ultra-luxury North Kirra mixed-use project as it lodges a minor amendment with the City of Gold Coast Council. The project sits across a 4,742sqm amalgamated landholding spanning seven parcels at 2–6 Pacific Parade and 27–33 Golden Four Drive, Bilinga, which MAYD secured in …
Continue reading “MAYD”s North Kirra Plans Unveiled Ahead of Early 2027 Launch”
As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
