Eight regions’ all-time asking price highs are the major driving force behind a new record high for New Zealand’s average asking house price. 

“Auckland is The Auckland region a different story “The Auckland region also has its own unique story to tell and is tending to favour those who are buying,” says Vanessa. While total housing stock across the nation was down 2.5 per cent when compared to January 2018, in the Auckland region stock was up 4.6 per cent with a total of 9,081 homes on the market. Of these 9,081 homes, 2,420 were new listings, which is a 12.1 per cent increase on January 2018. 

The average asking price in the Auckland region was flat (a slight increase of 0.7 per cent to $960,482) when compared to December 2018. “The Auckland market is favouring buyers, with a fresh injection of new listings, a flattening in the average asking price and a slowdown in the time it takes for properties to sell.* “More choice, more time and less pressure if you’re home hunting,” says Vanessa. Record asking price highs in eight regions, led by Wellington,

Otago and Waikato While Auckland’s average asking price remained static, a diverse mix of eight regions registered alltime highs, since records began in January 2007. Otago region Of the three larger regions (Wellington, Otago and the Waikato), it was Otago which recorded the largest asking price increase (up 4.8 percent to $438,367 compared to the prior month).

Vanessa Taylor says this is not surprising given that there was a significant drop in new listings in the Otago region (down 12.2 per cent compared to January 2018) and only 496 properties in total for sale in the region (down 32.1 per cent compared to a year ago). “It’s a very tight market and this would be influencing the asking price,” she says. Wellington region “It’s no shock that the Wellington region’s average asking price continued to rise and hit a new record in January, although the increase was relatively modest,” says Vanessa Taylor. “The Wellington region has traditionally been tightly held, with a scarcity in listings,” she says. 

The average asking price rose 1.5 per cent in January to $656,926. There were 682 new listings in January (up 4.4 per cent on January 2018) bringing the total number of homes for sale to 1,050. This was down 10.5 per cent compared to January 2018. “The city of Wellington is such a tight market so it’s good to see a healthy injection of new listings, however, it’s not unexpected that in January the region set a record average asking price based on total stock numbers,” says Vanessa. Waikato region Waikato saw a new record asking price high of $589,262, a 1.2 per cent increase on the previous month and like other record-breaking regions, it was coupled with falls in new listings and total housing stock. 

The number of new listings fell compared to January 2018 (522 new listings, down 3.3 per cent) and total stock was down 3.5 percent to 1,719. Five smaller regions make up the numbers While three of New Zealand’s main regions hit new records, five smaller regions also made history, with all-time asking price highs. All but one of the five regions experienced the same mix of property fundamentals, namely a fall in new listings, a fall in overall stock and a record asking price. 

Nelson and Bays was the exception, in that it recorded an all-time average asking price high of $686,963 (up 7.6 per cent compared to the prior month) and a fall in total housing stock compared to the previous year (down 6.6 per cent to 412 listings). However new listings were up, reaching 179 when compared to January 2018, a 13.3 per cent increase. The Central North Island’s asking price lifted to $492,622 in January (which was a 7.9 per cent increase on December 2018). 

New listings in January stood at 114, down 9.5 per cent compared to January 2018 while total stock also fell 16.1 per cent to 410, compared to the same period last year. Southland’s record asking price of $332,051 was a 7.4 per cent increase on December 2018. Stock levels were low in January, with 512 homes for sale, down 15.6 per cent on the same month the previous year. New listings represented 158 of the homes for sale in January, down 7.1 per cent on January 2018. 

The Manawatu/Wanganui region’s asking price hit $381,753 and was a 6.2 per cent increase on December 2018. With a 10.5 per cent fall in new property listings (340 in January 2019 compared to January 2018) and a total of 837 homes on the market, down 22.4 per cent, it’s not surprising asking prices have lifted. In the Gisborne region, property asking prices reached an all-time high of $417,794. This is a 6.5 per cent increase on the previous month. New listings were down in January (61 homes representing a 4.7 per cent drop on the same month last year). In January this year, the Gisborne region showed 108 homes listed for sale, a 36.6 per cent fall compared to January 2018. ENDS *

The injection of new listings and increase in total stock shows us that if theoretically no new homes were to come onto the market, at the current sale rate the total pool of houses for sale on the market would sell out in 26 weeks - which is 3 weeks longer than the long-term average of 23 weeks for the Auckland region. Glossary of terms: As the only provider of real estate data in real time, realestate.co.nz offers valuable property market information not available from other sources. 

• Average asking price gives an indication of current market sentiment. Statistically, asking prices tend to correlate closely with the sales prices recorded in future months when those properties are sold. As it looks at different data, average asking prices may differ from recorded sales data released at the same time. 

• Inventory is a measure of how long it would take, theoretically, to sell the current stock at current average rates of sale if no new properties were to be listed for sale. It provides a measure of the rate of turnover in the market. 

• New listings are a record of all the new listings on realestate.co.nz for the relevant calendar month. As realestate.co.nz reflects 97 per cent of all properties listed through registered estate agents in New Zealand, this gives a representative view of the New Zealand property market. 

• Demand is the increase or decrease in the number of views per listing in that region, taken over a rolling three-month time frame, compared to the same three-month time frame the previous year – including the current month. 

• Seasonal adjustment is a method realestate.co.nz uses to better represent the core underlying trend of the property market in New Zealand. This is done using methodology from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. 

• Truncated mean is the method realestate.co.nz uses to provide statistically relevant asking prices. 

• The top and bottom 10 per cent of listings in each area are removed before the average is calculated, to prevent exceptional listings from providing false impressions.