Fewer houses coming on to market

New listings are down and housing stock is up in Auckland.

The property listing website’s July data shows that new listings fell by 17.5% nationally compared to the same period in 2016.

Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Taylor said that only 7,933 new listings came onto the market nationally, which was the lowest number in any July month since their records began in 2007.

The decline in listings was widespread with all but one of New Zealand’s 19 regions experiencing a decline in listings in July.

In the North Island, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty saw the biggest drop in new listings – with falls of 27% and 26.3% respectively.

Auckland saw its new listings decrease by 13.9%.

In the South Island, Central Otago/Lakes and Otago saw the biggest falls in new listings. They were down by 32.4% and 28.8% respectively.

At the same time, the number of houses, or stock, on the market nationally was up by 7% year-on-year to 22,123.

While Southland (up 31.7%), Gisborne (up 29.0%) and Otago (up 24.5%) all saw substantial year-on-year growth in housing stock, it was Auckland that saw the biggest increase.

Total housing stock in the Super City was up by 49.3% as compared to July 2016.

However, Auckland’s average asking price went up by 2.8% in July to $942,999 – although this followed a drop of nearly 5% in June.

Taylor said the Auckland region is at an interesting stage in the property cycle as it was poised between a buyers’ and a sellers’ market in July.

In every other region in the country, it’s still a sellers’ market, as measured by the inventory of listings, she said.

“We will be watching with interest to see if this trend continues. If it does, it could indicate a shift towards a buyers’ market in Auckland.

“The last time we saw a buyers’ market in Auckland was February 2011.”

Around the rest of the country, average asking prices were largely static in July, with the national average asking price down by 0.3% to $626,413, as compared to June.

Four regions bucked the trend. They were Coromandel (up 11.2%), Northland (up 5.6%), Marlborough (up 5.4%) and Central North Island (up 5.1%).

Taylor said it all came down to a classic case of supply and demand.

“We have seen a tightening in supply along with a decreasing in demand which means a stable price environment.”