The latest NZ Property Report shows that asking prices have increased in more than half of 14 regions reporting and experts are attributing the gains to stronger seller confidence. The average asking price of $466,526 is a new record for New Zealand and many individual regions also saw record highs in September. Analysts say declining inventory combined with record asking prices is a sure sign that New Zealand is in a seller’s market as nearly all property types are boasting higher values. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.
Seller confidence has pushed up the seasonally adjusted truncated mean asking price of residential properties in New Zealand to a new high of $466,526.
The rise in asking price was noticeable across more than half of New Zealand, with 14 regions reporting an increase, according to the latest NZ Property Report.
Record high asking prices were also seen in September in Waikato and Coromandel regions. A new high of $384,595 in Waikato represents a 3.9% increase on August. While Coromandel’s new high was 1.4% up to $505,867 from the prior high of $498,660 set last month.
The data also shows that the first month of spring saw a steady number of new listings come on the market, with 11,000 new listings in September, this was up 2.7% from August, however was slightly down on September 2012.
It means that asking prices have increased 8.7% from September 2012, and are up 0.7% from August. The report says that this is due to strong seller price expectation in a market with low listings and strong buyer demand.
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The level of new listings coming onto the market in September rose to 11,000 from 10,715 in August. This represents a rise of 2.7%, and is down, 1.4% when compared to September last year.
On a 12 month moving average basis a total of 131,189 new listings have come onto the market since October 2012 as compared to 130,915 in the prior 12 month period, a rise of just 0.2%.
The level of unsold homes on the market at the end of September fell 13% to 36,178, well down as compared to September last year when it was 41,726.
The inventory as measured in terms of equivalent weeks of sales remained close to the record low seen last month, 24.2 weeks of stock available.
The report says that the market remains firmly a seller’s market with 16 of the 19 regions showing inventory levels that are well below long term averages.
New lifestyle property listings had a boost across the country in September. A total of 847 listings came onto the market, showing a jump of 13% when compared to August, but a fall of 11% when compared to September last year. The national truncated mean asking price for these listings was up 5.7% to a record high of $706,799 and up 8.8% when compared to September 2012. Record high asking prices were reported in Auckland, Waikato, and Canterbury.
New listings for apartments in September were up 2.1% on a year on year basis, and down 10.6% from August, with 487 being brought to the market. The truncated mean asking price of new apartment listings rose 1% to $407,989 in September from $404,392 in August, and was up 2% on a year on year basis.
The Auckland apartment market had 384 new listings, down 0.3% when compared to August last year. The truncated mean asking price of new listings in Auckland rose 1.6% to $390,850, from $384,816 in August. When compared to the recent three month average, this represents an increase of 2.1%.
This article was republished with permission from Property Wire.
