New listings surge in November after the Rugby World Cup

Media Release

New listings surge in November after the Rugby World Cup effect’ releases hold on sellers

Report data suggests property listings held back amidst Tournament fever


AUCKLAND, 1 December, 2011 – New listings of properties for sale have jumped in November, suggesting people held back from listing properties during the Rugby World Cup, according to new data from Realestate.co.nz.

The data released today in the NZ Property Report – a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz – showed that there was a 18% surge in new listings coming onto the market in the month since the end of the RWC Tournament.

Alistair Helm, CEO of Realestate.co.nz believes this surge was as a result of the huge interest in the Rugby World Cup.

“Clearly, there was huge attention on the Tournament and people’s belief seems to have been that the ‘Rugby World Cup effect’ was a distraction and it was best to wait until all the excitement had died down.”

Mr Helm says the report shows the number of new listings in November was the highest in over 18 months and 5% up on the same time last year, which was again led by the Auckland region, with 4,459 new listings in November.

“The Rugby World Cup was certainly a unique and much anticipated event, and in October we saw new listings were down 3% on the same month last year, which supports the idea of a RWC effect. The 18% jump clearly shows interest returning to the market in a flood.”

Mr Helm also says the property market still favours sellers, which is reflected in the asking price remaining above $425,000, following the previous month’s record high.

“It’s definitely still an active market, with a real sense of confidence that new property listings will go on and sell. This is reflected in the asking price average of $426,129. Whilst down 2% on the previous month, it is the same as the three-month average and remains above the long-term average.”

In addition, Mr Helm says inventory has stabilised, with the number of unsold homes reducing slightly in the past month to just over 38 weeks, following a slight increase in October.

“The levels continue to be well below the long-term average however, leaning the market in sellers’ favour especially in the Auckland and Canterbury regions, with the latter falling to just 23 weeks.

“This is a huge drop for the Canterbury region, especially when you consider it was 50 weeks only seven months ago. If you exclude the frothy market of the 2007 recession period, this is the lowest it has been in the five-year history of the NZ Property Report.”

Helm adds; “The overall market has shown strength in the last year, but has also been tight on new listings. The past four weeks have blown this out of the water, with 13,369 new listings nationwide.”

Realestate.co.nz is the country’s most comprehensive property listing website profiling listings of licensed real estate agents with more than 115,000 real estate listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale.

The latest issue of the NZ Property Report, covering November 2011, plus more analysisof the property market can be found on www.unconditional.co.nz, the news and information website for New Zealand real estate.

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