2011 ends with marked fall in new listings

The latest realestate.co.nz report found that at 8,732, the number of new listings in December was 35% down on November.

"In overall terms the number of new listings coming onto the market in December was considerably lower than expected given the surge in November," the report said.

The lower amount of listings saw inventory levels slip to below the long term average.

In December there were 47,557 properties on the market which, at the current rate of sale, would all sell in just over 36 weeks against the long term average of 41 weeks.

The report also found the mean asking price had fallen 1% in December to $420,109,  just 1% above December 2010 levels.

While realestate.co.nz said the long term trend had been a steady increase in asking prices over the past three years, across the 19 regions there was a mixed picture.

Ten regions showed an increase in asking price as measured against the three month average, with four regions seeing significant rises in asking prices of over 5% - Central North Island, Nelson, Central Otago/Queenstown Lakes and the West Coast.

Amongst the nine regions showing a fall in asking prices six had modest falls between 1% to 5% - Coromandel, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

The largest fall in asking price over December was in the Wairarapa, down 11% on December 2010.