The number of homes being listed for sale will slump over the Christmas period, property specialists at RP Data have claimed.

According to the firm's latest Property Pulse report, a recent decline will continue until the end of the year.

"The new listings to the market have slipped again this week and now sit below 47,000 for the first time in eight weeks," said the report. "With the Christmas/New Year slowdown imminent it is anticipated that the rate of stock additions will continue to cool in coming weeks."

However, the trend could be actually be good news for the market as according to the report total stock listings have continued to fall indicating that properties available on the market are continuing to sell at a faster rate than stock is being added.

The figures come after housing finance data released by the ABS this week showed finance commitments surging during September. "It showed a strong bounce back in first homebuyer loans which was not surprising given that it was the last month in which the First Home Buyers Grant Boost was available in full," added the RP Data report.

The firm also predicted that first homebuyer volumes will gradually fall back to long term averages and that the volumes of finance commitments will also move back toward more average levels as interest rates increase return to historic levels, resulting in a lower level of market activity.

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