The spring listing season has started slowly, according to Cotality data.

It shows thatin the four weeks ending October 11, there were 36,440 new listings across Australia - 7.9% fewer than a year earlier and 11.9% below the previous five-year average.

Hobart leads the fall in new listings (-27.9%), followed bySydney (-21.0%). Melbourne new listings are down by 19.5%, Canbera is down 17.7% and Brisbane is down 3.9%

New listings are up 18.5% in Adelaide, 9.4% in Perth and 4.1% in Darwin.

Total listings (that is properties already on the market plus the new listings) have hit 145,573 – up 19.1%on the same period last year and 2.7% above the previous five-year average.

Across the combined capital cities, Perth (64.7%) and Brisbane (60.4%) have the largest increases in total listings, while Hobart is the only capital with a decline in total listings (-19.7%).