Kiwis ask for over $12 billion more for their properties in 2022 than in 2021

Despite prices trending downwards throughout 2022, Kiwi vendors still asked for a whopping $125 billion last year.

New data from realestate.co.nz shows that, in 2022, those selling property asked for $125,601,880,575 in 2022, up 11.0% on 2021. This sum totals the price of every new residential dwelling listed on realestate.co.nz during 2022.

Almost all regions saw the sum of asking prices increase last year. Cantabrian's more than doubled their price expectations in 2022, with the sum of asking prices in the region up 102.0% to $19,294,054,202. Other regions that asked for more in 2022 included Nelson & Bays (up 33.0% to $2,155,070,617), Coromandel (up 32.0% to $1,580,528,765), and Central North Island (up 25.6% to $1,380,757,016).

Sarah Wood, CEO of realestate.co.nz, says these sums perhaps reflect the gap between vendor expectations and the market right now:

"Average asking prices have trended downwards over the last 12 months, but we are hearing from agents that many sellers are still expecting prices above where the market is in their region."

Auckland was the only region where the sum of asking prices decreased when compared to 2021. Dropping by 6.7% year-on-year, vendors in the region asked for a total of $54,007,614,392 in 2022 ($3,884,707,203 less than the previous year).

Interestingly, 41% of residential dwelling listings on realestate.co.nz also had the price reduced on the listing during the whole of 2022. This compares to just 10% in 2021.

"This reflects the state of the current market and the requirement for vendors to price their property based on what the market is willing to pay," says Wood.

More than 103,000 listings hit the market last year, still 4.7% fewer than in 2021

The total number of listings coming onto the market during 2022 was down almost 5% nationally in 2022 compared to 2021. The numbers, Wood says, indicate hesitancy from buyers in some regions during 2022.

The biggest decreases in the number of listings on realestate.co.nz during 2022 were in Gisborne (down 18.0%), Auckland (down 13.0%), Central Otago/Lakes District (down 10.6%), and Southland (down 9.8%).

"We saw incredible uncertainty impacting the market last year with rising interest rates and inflation. As a result, some people may have held off on listing their property for sale, which is not uncommon when the economic environment is in flux," says Wood. 

However, while more than half of regions saw their listing numbers decline or remain flat, seven regions saw listings increase in 2022. The most significant increases were in Nelson & Bays, which had 15.3% more listings in 2022, while Coromandel had 12.5% more. 

Significant economic factors impacted Kiwis' wallets in 2022 and saw the New Zealand property market move into a new cycle.

"Not only did we see interest rate increases and high inflation levels, but finance became harder to access. All of this impacts how willing Kiwis are to buy or sell and how much they want to or are able to pay for property," says Wood.

She says the cycle change was noticeable by the shift in conversations about property last year.

"Up to the end of 2021, when demand exceeded supply around the country, everyone was lamenting 'crazy property prices' and asking when they would stop rising. 

"Last year, we saw the conversation change. We were still talking about 'crazy property prices', except it flipped to how much further property prices might continue to fall," says Wood. 

She adds that we've seen troughs like this before, but average asking prices always go up in the long term.

"If you wait long enough, we will be talking about skyrocketing prices when the cycle swings around again," says Wood.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Brigid Conroy | brigid@brainchild.co.nz | Brainchild

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