A 16% withdrawal rate is not a crisis. It is a market that has stopped rewarding wishful pricing. Here is what the data actually shows.
Team Howe · Raine & Horne Lower North Shore Team Howe Weekly · 25 June 2026
David’s Take · Weekly Letter

What the Withdrawal Numbers
Actually Mean

You may have seen the headlines. Here is what the Lower North Shore data actually shows.
Dear Readers,
You may have seen recent headlines suggesting that a near-record number of homeowners are withdrawing their properties from the market.
It’s an attention-grabbing line. It’s also a misleading one.
The data from our own patch — the Lower North Shore — tells a more useful story.

What the Numbers Actually Say

Year-to-date we have tracked approximately 820 house listings across the Lower North Shore.
Year-to-Date — Lower North Shore House Listings
448
55%
Homes Sold
236
29%
On Market
136
16%
Withdrawn
Lower North Shore House Listings Year-to-Date — Sold, On Market, Withdrawn
A 16% withdrawal rate is not a crisis. It’s a market that has stopped rewarding wishful pricing.

Why Withdrawals Are Up

There isn’t one cause. Several things have shifted at once.
›Homes are taking longer to sell than they did during the exceptionally strong run of recent years.
›Buyers have more choice, so every new listing competes harder for attention.
›Some vendors set out with a price they wanted, not a price the market would pay.
›When that gap doesn’t close, the rational decision is to withdraw, reassess, and re-launch.
That’s not the behaviour of a failing market. That’s the behaviour of a disciplined one.

The Statistic the Headlines Ignore

Around 5% of total listings are properties returning to market (relisted) for a second campaign.
Vendors aren’t abandoning their plans. They’re sharpening them — reviewing their pricing, improving presentation, repositioning the marketing, and trying again.
In thirty years on the Lower North Shore, I’ve watched this pattern repeatedly. Campaigns that come back with cleaner numbers and clearer positioning almost always sell. Often well. The market didn’t punish the home — it punished the first strategy, and rewarded the second.
David’s Take

The withdrawal numbers are worth watching. They are not, on their own, a warning sign.

What they actually tell you is this: the days of any well-located home selling on momentum alone are over for now. Strategy matters again.

Well-presented homes, priced honestly from day one, are still attracting strong competition and strong results. The ones that struggle almost always started with a number rather than a strategy.

That’s not a market collapse. That’s a market doing its job.

If you’re thinking about selling, buying, or just trying to read this market clearly

We track these numbers every week and we share what we see honestly — including the parts other agents prefer to leave out.
If you’d like a confidential, evidence-based view of where your home sits in today’s market — or where a property you’re considering buying really fits — reply to this email or call the team directly. No pitch. No pressure. Just the data and a straight conversation.
“That’s what Team Howe does.”
David Howe signature
David Howe
Partner Agent · Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
 Charles Tang signature
Charles Tang
Team David Howe · Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
Lower North Shore
Compiled by Team Howe. Statistics drawn from Domain, REA, and our own active LNS listing and sales data as at 25 June 2026. Figures are provided in good faith and may have changed since publication. Interested parties should make their own independent enquiries before relying on any information herein.

© Raine & Horne Lower North Shore. You are receiving this because you have previously been in touch with our office about Lower North Shore property.
 
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