More properties have the market in October.

Figures released by SQM Research reveal property listings rose to 363,653 during October – up 7.3 per cent on September.

Melbourne had the most properties listed for sale, 39,909 which was up 11.6 per cent on last month, followed by Brisbane with 28,954 listings, an increase of 7.8 per cent.

In Sydney there were 28,827 properties on the market during October, Perth had 25,043 and Adelaide, 17,340.

Darwin and Hobart listings were significantly lower than the other capital cities, with 2114 and 3886 properties listed respectively.

While the number of properties actually listed for sale in Sydney was lower than Melbourne and Brisbane it had the biggest surge in listings of 22.5 per cent during the month.

Even with its low numbers Darwin also underwent a surge with an increase of 14.2 per cent.

SQM managing director Louis Christopher said the figures showed that more vendors were struggling to find buyers in Sydney.

He said buyers had become more cautious in that city and he thought that trend would continue through until Christmas.

Asking prices across the combined capital cities for houses dropped only slightly during October, down 0.1 per cent, while for units it increased by 0.3 per cent.

Sellers in Canberra and Brisbane boosted their asking prices the most during the month rising by 1.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent.

Sydney sellers still wanted more for their properties than any other capital cities, with a median asking price for houses of $1,143,300 and units $639,600.