Auckland Property Asking Prices Hit a New High

Auckland Property Asking Prices Hit a New High as National Market Regains Some Balance
 
Sellers’ market persists as national inventory and asking prices ease slightly
 
 
AUCKLAND, 1 May, 2012 – Asking prices for Auckland homes hit a new all time high in April, as the property market across the rest of New Zealand regained some balance, with inventory steadying and new listings maintaining their annual seasonal levels, says Realestate.co.nz.
 
Data released today in the NZ Property Report – a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz – showed that the average asking price for Auckland homes for sale lifted a further 2% from last month, taking it to an all time high of $568,820 – the third high in eight months.
 
Alistair Helm, CEO of Realestate.co.nz, says that Auckland’s price surge was understandable due to the increased pressure that has been placed on that market by strong sales that have not been matched by numbers of new listings.
 
“Every April, we tend to see a drop in new listings as the traditional New Year surge of activity finally starts to wane. The number of new listings is virtually identical to April last year, but what is different this year is that demand has remained high, with year-on-year sales up more than 20%.”
 
Helm says the Auckland market is still massively undersupplied, and says he would go as far as to describe it as a “chronic shortage.”
 
Meanwhile, asking prices for New Zealand homes overall eased slightly from their steady climb over past few months to finish at $423,832 (seasonally adjusted.)

The new listings that did come on the market in April resulted in a slight easing of inventory, which lifted 4% to 33.7 weeks in April. However, Mr Helm says this is still 24% down on a year ago, and well below the long term average of 41 weeks of supply.
 
“With such a demand for property, we may have expected the market to respond with a few more listings than have appeared, given the signals that the market is clearly favouring sellers,” says Helm.
 
“This indicates that we are not heading for a property bubble, but rather that the market is balancing buyers’ demand with sellers’ expectations well.”
 
However, Helm says that while the next three months are traditionally a quieter time for the property market, with lower levels of listings expected before the annual spring surge, a continuing demand for property may well prompt asking prices to creep up even further.
 
Realestate.co.nz is the country’s most comprehensive property listing website profiling listings of licensed real estate agents with more than 110,000 real estate listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale.
 
The latest issue of the NZ Property Report, covering April 2012, plus more analysis of 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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