The New Zealand property market in April continued the trend of the last four consecutive months with yet another increase in average asking price, creating a new record of $521,729, an increase of 1.4% on the previous month.
The latest monthly property data from realestate.co.nz showed that Auckland, where the average asking price rose by 3% to a new high of $789,581, continued to be the main driver in the overall national increase – no other region experienced a new record in average asking price in April.
In fact, most parts of New Zealand experienced either little change or decreases in average asking price during the month. In Wellington the average asking price dropped slightly by 1.4% to $455,611, while Canterbury also experienced a small decrease of 0.8% to $463,175. The biggest drops occurred in Central Otago where the average asking price in April fell by 17.3% to $604,729, while the average in Southland fell by 11% to $232,549.
Significantly, the number of new listings was the lowest recorded for April by realestate.co.nz, with only 9,673 coming on to the market, a fall of 5.6% on the same time last year, and a decrease of 18% from March. In addition, the national average in overall inventory* of available housing stock for sale fell to an all time low of only 21.3 weeks in April. The previous record low of 21.4 weeks was set in January, while the long-term national average is 36 weeks.
CEO of realestate.co.nz, Brendon Skipper says, “The drop in listings coupled with the record low total inventory shows that sellers in many parts of New Zealand are experiencing very favourable conditions. As a result, robust average asking prices continue to be maintained at record levels, and the market appears to be meeting them.”