Listings pressure stays on: Realestate.co.nz

The latest statistics from Realestate.co.nz show the number of new listings nationally fell 3% in March  from February and was down 4% on a year before. There were 12,732 new listings in the month.

Wellington and Canterbury had 9.9% and 8.6% year-on-year falls respectively. Auckland’s new property listings dropped by 4.6%.

On a 12-month moving average basis, 131,703 new listings came on to the market between April 2012 and March 2013, 2.8% up on the previous 12-month period. But the number of sales was up 18.1% on the same period.

In 13 of the 19 regions, inventory levels are well below long-term averages. Auckland is 53% below the long-term average and Canterbury is 45% below.

The national mean asking price stabilised at $444,883 in March, up very slightly from February and up 4% on a year before.

Auckland’s mean asking price was a near-record $610,628.

Eight of the regions reported asking price increases in March on the month before. Hawke’s Bay’s asking prices were up 5.1%. But 11 regions reported asking price falls – Central Otago’s prices fell 5.8%, Gisborne’s 9.5% and Taranaki’s asking prices fell by 14.1%.

Taranaki also had a significant drop in listings, down 15.7%.

The market is most firmly in sellers’ favour in central Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury.