Cooler days for former hot spots

Auckland, Wellington, the Waikato, Otago and Central Otago Lakes all saw their asking prices either fall or remain flat in January as compared to December, according to the website’s data.

In Auckland asking prices fell by 4.0% to $943,542 while Otago’s average asking prices were down by 1.3% to $383,800 and Central Otago Lakes by 10.6% to $880,669.

Wellington and the Waikato saw their asking prices up by just 0.5% each, leaving them at $596,819 and $549,830 respectively.

Asking prices in Canterbury also declined by 2.1% to $491,358.

Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Taylor says total housing stock was also up in five of these regions compared to the same time a year ago.

“This indicates that many properties are not selling as quickly as in previous years.”

In Auckland total stock was up (20.4%), followed by Waikato (15.2%), Wellington (14.0%), Canterbury (13.8%) and Otago (8.5%).

In contrast, total stock in Central Otago Lakes was down by 5.1% when compared to the same period last year.

New property listings varied among the regions.

Otago, Wellington and Canterbury all saw an increase in new listings of 13.9%, 7.4% and 1.1% respectively, as compared to the same period last year.

But Auckland and the Waikato both saw a decline in new listing of 9.7% and 8.6% respectively.

Nationally, the average asking price was down by 2.0% to $647,535, as compared to December.

At the same time total housing stock was up by 7.0% and there was a 4.9% decrease in new listings, as compared to January 2017.

Taylor says a less frenetic market in the main centres means buyers have the time to take a more considered approach with less competitive pressure to purchase immediately.

“Buyers have more time to view all the options and negotiate without the pressure of a hot market.”

While the major centres were experiencing cooler times, Northland, Central North Island, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Marlborough were all busy in January.

Taylor says that asking prices were up and total stock numbers were down in all these regions.

New listings were down in Northland, Central North Island, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay, but up in Wairarapa and Marlborough.

But, despite the continuing health of the Bay of Plenty’s market, it seems the former halo city of Tauranga is losing its allure to Aucklanders.

Realestate.co.nz’s data shows that viewings of listings to the region from Aucklanders has fallen each January over the last three years (2016-2018).

Taylor says this suggests that Aucklanders are less interested in the region than they previously were.