Apartment listings dwindle
A decrease in new apartment listings in Wellington is adding further stress to the housing concerns the capital is facing, industry commentators say.
Listings in Wellington fell about 13 per cent from June 2016.
There were 52 new apartment listings last month with the average asking price being $410,820.
Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said although June was usually a quiet month for the Wellington market, the region’s current stock of 157 apartments would, in theory, sell out within six weeks, assuming no new listings and the same rate of sales continued.
That was the lowest level of listings inventory of all the regions.
Taylor said while it was currently a sellers’s market across all New Zealand regions, in Wellington it was even more obvious.
But despite there being a lack of inventory, the average asking price for property in Wellington for June fell 1.8 per cent to an average of $562,000 from May.
Wellington has a current shortfall of approximately 3900 homes in the city.
Between 20,000 and 30,000 extra housing units will be required to meet projected population growth to 2043.
Canterbury and Waikato also fell about 13 per cent from June 2016.
The Bay of Plenty had 584 new apartment listings, a decrease of 10 per cent from last year.
But listings in Auckland have been on the rise, with the number of apartments listed for sale in June almost doubling from the previous month.
There were 800 listings in June compared with 453 in May.
In June, the average asking price for an apartment in Auckland was nearly $680,000.
The average asking price for all housing in Auckland was $917,250, which was 4.7 per cent lower than in May.
Taylor said the number of listings in June was the highest monthly listings in at least a decade.
Nationally, one- and twobedroom apartments made up the bulk of listings that came onto the market last month.
Compared with June last year, the number of one-bedroom apartments increased by 45.8 per cent and two-bedroom apartments increased by 28.2 per cent.
But the number of apartments for sale with three or more bedrooms was down on a year ago.
Apartment living was becoming more popular in Auckland because they were catering to a wider range of lifestyles, Taylor said.
‘‘Ten years ago, apartments were largely confined to the central business district, but they are now an integrated part of developments in areas across wider Auckland,’’ she said.
‘‘There is significant choice, and buyers can take into consideration developments which meet their needs – for example schools, parks, shopping and local facilities.
‘‘It provides buyers with a more cost-effective way to approach the property market.’’
Year on year, the number of apartments for sale in Auckland rose 52.8 per cent for one-bedroom apartments, 45.5 per cent for two bedrooms and 18.3 per cent for three bedrooms or more.