New year, new record house price

Sellers came into the property market last month, Realestate.co. nz says, but there are still not enough listings to meet demand.

The property listing website said more people listed their homes for sale in January than in December. The number of properties available for sale nationwide increased 6.9 per cent between December and January.

But that was still 21.7 per cent lower than the same time a year ago. There was nowhere in the country where more homes were available for sale this year than last. Wairarapa had the biggest drop in available stock, down 49.3 per cent. Taranaki was next, at 46.9 per cent.

Bay of Plenty listings remained at a record low. Auckland’s available stock was 22.2 per cent less than the same time last year.

Pressure remained on prices last month, Realestate.co.nz said.

The average asking price on the site increased to $710,393 in January, up from December’s record $703,780. Auckland had an average asking price of $952,861.

Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said it would be interesting to see what happened to the national average asking price this year.

‘‘We often see the national average fluctuating quite a bit in response to what is happening around the country, so we will be waiting to see if the price holds above $700,000 or drops back down to the mid to high $600,000s that we saw throughout 2019,’’ she said.

Otago, Southland, Marlborough and the Central North Island hit record asking-price highs last month. These all-time highs were consecutive monthly records for both Southland and Marlborough which also hit record highs in December 2019.

Despite low stock in all regions, increased activity in the middle of the North Island could be signalling a market shift, Taylor said.

In Waikato, Central North Island, Manawatu¯ /Whanganui and Hawke’s Bay, the number of new listings increased last month when compared with January 2019. The proximity of these regions to one another, as well as flat average asking prices in Waikato, Manawatu¯ /Whanganui and the Hawke’s Bay, could be an early indicator that things were shifting, Taylor said.

‘‘When we see new listings increase, it tells us that there is more activity in those areas than there was a year ago – this could be a clue that the tides might turn on the current sellers’ market.

‘‘Although it is too early to say whether this is a trend, we have not seen a lift in these regions for quite some time.’’

Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said it would be interesting to see if there was a ripple effect to the rest of the North Island in coming months.