Listings rise good news for homebuyers
An increase in property listings sees Nelson moving towards a buyers’ market, says Paul McKenzie of Realestate.co.nz.
Nelson is one of eight regions with increased property listings.
It had 236 new listings last month, up 8.8 per cent on December last year, according to the December 2012 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz.
The property asking price for Nelson in December was down 2 per cent on the previous month to $451,517, while nationally it was down 5.3 per cent to $422,636.
Mr McKenzie said more properties had come on the market in Nelson for the summer.
Overall the region’s market looked fairly stable. ‘‘It’s still slightly a sellers’ market but appears to be moving towards a buyers’ market.’’ Southland reported the highest increase in new listings of 72.5 per cent when compared to December 2011, followed by Northland up 42.9 per cent, and Coromandel up 35.8 per cent.
The report said the property market saw a further tightening of supply in December, more especially in the three major cities where it remained a sellers’ market.
Overall, the number of new listings coming on to the market in December was considerably lower than expected given the surge in November. Stocks of unsold homes fell to a five-year low of 26.6 weeks of inventory, with the long-term average of 39 weeks.
Auckland, Waikato and Otago were most affected by low inventory levels, with stocks of unsold homes falling to a new record low of 13.9 weeks of inventory in Auckland, 31.5 weeks in Waikato, and 20.4 weeks in Otago, each well below their long-term inventory levels.
Inventory levels across the country remain low and the market remains a firm sellers’ market across 16 of the 19 regions, it said.
Overall new listings decreased nationally, with 11 regions reporting year-on-year falls.
Record low numbers of new listings were seen on the West Coast – falling by 35 per cent – Auckland, and Wellington, putting more pressure on the already low number of listings in the main centres.