Keen buyers keep up the hunt online

Demand for residential property soared in the months following last year’s lockdown and this year it has kept on climbing, according to Realestate.co.nz.

The real estate website’s latest data show that, since last May, the number of people searching for property on the site has been consistently high, peaking in March this year at 1.36 million users.

Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said more people searched for property last year than any other year since 2016. This year was on track to be busier.

Interest from overseas had remained high throughout the past 12 months, with an average of 21.4 per cent of users on the site searching from outside New Zealand, she said.

‘‘We know that a lot of Kiwis have returned home from overseas during this time, but it could also be that our relative success with Covid-19 has made New Zealand even more attractive for international buyers.’’

More than 1.24 million users were recorded on the website in

May last year. This suggested Kiwis didn’t waste any time getting back into the property market after the alert level 4 restrictions lifted, Taylor said.

‘‘We all spent a lot of time at home during lockdown, and I think this prompted a lot of people to reassess their property needs.’’

However, the data also showed the high demand was not matched by an increase in the number of properties for sale. Inventory remained consistently low over the past year, and by April stock on the market nationwide was sitting at 15,838, down 19.6 per cent on April last year.

This was despite regular increases in the number of new listings coming onto the market over the past year.

Taylor said stock shortages had posed real challenges for buyers, and it was easy to see how much pressure that had put on prices. The national average asking price was $839,035 in April, which was up slightly from $835,844 in March.

Four regions also recorded alltime asking price highs in April: Northland ($751,670), Taranaki ($553,071), Wellington ($887,837) and Manawatu¯ /Whanganui ($604,196).

‘‘We all spent a lot of time at home during lockdown and I think this prompted a lot of people to reassess their property needs.’’ Vanessa Taylor of Realestate.co.nz