Real estate asking price eases slightly as listings drop

Asking price eases slightly as listings drop

A month of property peaks and troughs, as 2013 draws to a close

Auckland, 3 December 2013 – November saw national asking price ease slightly, but it is still sitting at the second highest average in NZ history. Asking price in the Waikato region has reached an all time high. The number of homes for sale has recovered slightly, while the number of new listings entering the market has dropped, after a strong October across the country.

Data released today by Realestate.co.nz in the NZ Property Report, reports that trends are continuing on par with activity across the year. We enter the festive season with the overall market firmly pointed in favour of sellers across the majority of New Zealand.

Average national asking price remains high, rising 7% to $463,142 from this time last year and is down by just 0.6% from the record set last month. This slight drop in asking price can be attributed to large asking price decreases in the Coromandel and Hawkes Bay region and then several smaller price decreases in the major regions of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury.

Much of the country experienced asking price increases, however, with Waikato’s new asking price record set at an average of $389,886 – a 2.7% increase from the previous month. Gisborne and the West Coast regions saw asking price average rise by over 10% compared to the previous month, with increases of 10% and 12.8% respectively. “Asking prices have remained high with most of the country at or near the record asking prices seen last month”, said Realestate.co.nz Acting CEO, Phillip Dunn.

Inventory across the country has continued its recent recovery and now sit at 25 weeks of stock when measured against the current rate of sale. This recovery, though positive, is still a long way down on the long-term average of 38 weeks.

Listings results this month conflict with trends from the past three years. Historically, Realestate.co.nz data has reported higher listings in November compared with October. Nationally, November 2013 data reports that new listings have fallen 2% from the same time last year, and are down 5% from last month. A total of 13,311 new listings came onto the market during November. Dunn says this figure wasn’t unexpected. “This isn’t surprising considering the strong numbers we saw in October”.

“We expect to see a further drop in listings during the traditional seasonal lull over the upcoming December – January 13/14 period,” said Dunn. “History shows listing numbers will begin to increase again come late January / early February.”

Realestate.co.nz is the country’s most comprehensive property listing website, profiling listings of licensed real estate agents with more than 100,000 listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale.

The November 2013 issue of the NZ Property Report, a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz, can be found here. Additional analysis of the property market can be found at www.unconditional.co.nz, the news and information website for New Zealand real estate.

ENDS

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