The Australian new vehicle market has re-written record books in three of the past four months, as long-overdue deliveries start to roll off the ships and into customer driveways.
This is tied in to a marked increase in used vehicle stock on dealer lots, which should exert more downward pressure on prices.
According to vehicle data and re-marketing firm Cox Automotive Australia, the number of used and demonstrator vehicle listings at dealers in its database is up more than 30 per cent in 2023 so far, as well as up 22.5 per cent over the same point in 2022.
The Cox Automotive data isn’t the only information showing price cooling in the second-hand market. Financial intelligence company Moody’s Analytics reported recently overall used vehicle prices are 2.2 per cent lower than July and 11.3 per cent lower than a year ago.
The firm found used vehicle prices are also 15.2 per cent lower than their peak in May 2022, however, they are still 49 per cent higher than the pre-COVID level in August 2019.
The pattern suggests more private buyers and fleets are taking delivery of their overdue vehicles, and trading-in or wholesaling older stock which enters the pre-owned market looking for its next owner.
Cox Automotive’s Price Index, which tracks the price changes of used vehicles over time, sat at 141.1 points as of August 31. This means the average price of used cars is 41.1 per cent greater than the ‘base period’ of December 2019 – just before COVID changed the market.
While still inflated, this index is down around 5 per cent from its August 2022 high point, and down 4.2 per cent over this year. The same data also shows more than 40 per cent of sellers reduced the price of a used vehicle listing at least once, and by an average of 7.1 per cent.
(7 News)
