Handwritten notes, door-knocking, recipes: real estate agents turn ‘desperate’ across Australia

The first time Neha Samar received a handwritten note in her letterbox asking if she would be willing to sell her home, she threw it in the bin and forgot about it. The third time she received a similar note, it felt "creepy".

Samar has lived in her Shepparton property, north-east of Melbourne, since 2018, but this is the first year real estate agents have come knocking.

"They must be getting really desperate," she said. "Shepparton has a bad housing need at the moment, but it's so annoying."

Agents are turning to increasingly frenzied measures to hunt for sellers as lower supply, falling house prices and rapid interest rate rises dissuade punters from entering the market.

The number of newly advertised homes for sale on Realestate.com fell by 7.5% last month, the latest PropTrack Listings Report released on Wednesday found, in a sluggish start to the usually busy spring season.

Brisbane and Sydney were the worst hit, dropping by 13.3% and 13% respectively.

The Hello Haus founder, Scott Aggett, said agents were under pressure with housing stock levels notably lower than previous years, leading some to resort to door-knocking, cold calling and sending out flyers.