Traditionally, September is a weak month for ASX shares, but that wasn't the case this year, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rising strongly by 2.2%.
Meantime, the national median dwelling value increased for a 20th consecutive month, by 0.4%, during the first month of the traditionally busy Spring season, according to the latest CoreLogic data.
Therefore, if we compare shares vs. property, ASX shares outdid bricks and mortar last month.
However, there is currently a lot of performance diversity across Australia's property market.
The top-performing capital city property market — Perth — delivered 1.6% median house price growth in September, while Melbourne, Hobart, and Canberra all recorded a 0.2% fall in median house prices.
Many ASX stocks outperformed the benchmark considerably during September.
The No. 1 ASX 200 share for price growth in September was tech share Siteminder Ltd (ASX: SDR).
Siteminder shares soared by 28.46% over the month and are up 22.52% in the year to date. SiteMinder shares are trading for $6.39, up 1.03%, on Tuesday.
In property, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane were once again the strongest capital city markets.
Median house prices lifted by 1.6% to a median of $830,965 in Perth. There was a 1.3% increase in Adelaide to a median of $856,856, and a 0.8% bump in Brisbane to a median of $973,534.
Regional house prices lifted most in the Northern Territory (1.6%), Western Australia (1.5%) and South Australia (1.1%).
Tim Lawless, CoreLogic's research director, said momentum was leaving the market as the number of listings increased.
According to CoreLogic data, the flow of new listings coming onto the market nationally was 3.2% higher year-over-year in September. Stock for sale is now 8.8% above the previous five-year average.
Lawless said:
The rise in real estate inventory is a seasonal trend, with spring and early summer one of the busiest periods of the year for selling. However, the flow of freshly advertised housing stock hasn't been this high at this time of the year since 2021.
Auction clearance rates have fallen to the low 60% range across the capital cities. This is still considered a healthy rate of sale, but it's 4% below the decade average, which indicates the market is losing steam.
The median number of days on market for private treaty sales also rose from 29 days in the June quarter to 32 days in the September quarter.
CoreLogic says affordability constraints and reduced borrowing capacity due to higher interest rates continue to support stronger price growth in the cheaper capital cities and regional markets.
Let's take a look at the numbers.
| Property market | Median house price | Price growth last month | 12-month price growth |
| Sydney | $1,473,775 | 0.1% | 4.9% |
| Melbourne | $925,762 | (0.2%) | (1.3%) |
| Brisbane | $973,534 | 0.8% | 13.5% |
| Adelaide | $856,856 | 1.3% | 14.4% |
| Perth | $830,965 | 1.6% | 24% |
| Hobart | $692,504 | (0.2%) | (1.6%) |
| Darwin | $592,507 | 0.1% | 3.4% |
| Canberra | $966,684 | (0.2%) | 1.7% |
| Regional New South Wales | $769,593 | 0.2% | 3.5% |
| Regional Victoria | $594,591 | (0.1%) | (1.4%) |
| Regional Queensland | $675,321 | 0.7% | 12.1% |
| Regional South Australia | $446,337 | 1.1% | 10.8% |
| Regional Western Australia | $547,602 | 1.5% | 19.4% |
| Regional Tasmania | $538,052 | (0.3%) | 1.4% |
| Regional Northern Territory | $438,970 | 1.6% | (6.6%) |
The ASX 200 recorded 2.2% growth in September.
According to CommSec data, these 5 ASX 200 shares were the best-performing stocks.
| ASX 200 share | Share price growth |
| Siteminder Ltd (ASX: SDR) | 28.46% |
| West African Resources Ltd (ASX: WAF) | 24.37% |
| Centuria Capital Group (ASX: CNI) | 24.04% |
| Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) | 23.47% |
| Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) | 22.9% |
SiteMinder owns an all-in-one hotel management software platform.
As the chart below shows, the SiteMinder share price began rising steadily from about 9 September.
That was when the company lodged revised cash flow reports for 1Q FY24 and 2Q FY24 following its FY24 audit.
The revised numbers were better than the unaudited numbers, which appears to have pleased investors.
SiteMinder said the revised numbers related to cash outflows from the establishment of a credit facility with HSBC Ventures USA Inc to replace a credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank.
These cash outflows totalled $461,000 in 1Q FY24 and $303,000 in 2Q FY24.
The company said the numbers were reclassified from 'cash flows from operating activities' to 'cash flows from financing activities' to better reflect their nature, in line with AASB standards.
SiteMinder said the change had resulted in negative cash flow from operating activities in 1Q turning positive.
In a statement, the company said:
As a result of the revision, reported cash flows from operating activities for Q1FY24 has increasedfrom ($191)k to become positive $270k, and for Q2FY24 has increased from $936k to $1,239k.
The SiteMinder share price also benefitted from investor positivity on ASX tech shares last month.
The S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) lifted by 7.36% in September.
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