NZ Property Report: October 2020

13-year record average asking price highs in six north island regions with Auckland prices remaining above $1 million

Low stock nationwide but vendors are still active in many regions.

Vendor expectations remained high in October with real-time data from realestate.co.nz showing all-time average asking price highs in six regions. Year on year, the national average asking price also increased by 12.4% to $772,288. 

Topping the leader board in October was Auckland where the average asking price was $1,015,383. Auckland also saw the biggest increase (36.8%) in new listings coming onto the market of all regions.

“We have seen a lot of international interest in Auckland recently and this could be pushing up prices and encouraging property owners to sell,” says Vanessa Taylor, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz. 

Many regions saw an increase in new listings coming onto the market last month. This suggests that vendors around the country were busy in October. However, compared to the same month in 2019 total stock was down nationally by 18.7% in October.  

Vanessa says low stock levels are a long-term trend in New Zealand, but new listings up year on year in 9 of 19 regions will be welcome news for buyers. 

North Island vendors seeing record average asking price highs in six regions

Many sellers in the North Island had cause for celebration last month with real-time data from realestate.co.nz showing all-time average asking price highs in six regions. 

Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, and Manawatu/Whanganui all saw their average asking prices hit 13-year record highs in October. 

Vanessa says that average asking prices were up year-on-year in all but one region in October*. She says record highs are always good news for those in the market to sell: 

“With stock down nationally and in every region, these prices indicate that demand is outstripping supply.”

Stock remains low with no signs of letting up

The long-term decline in stock continued in October with only 18,141 total homes available for sale in New Zealand – an 18.7% decrease on the same month last year. 

Hitting record stock lows last month were Northland (down 36.0% to 857 homes), Waikato (down 24.9% to 1,220 homes), Bay of Plenty (down 30.1% to 979 homes), Southland (down 10.7% to 292 homes), Coromandel (down 37.0% to 295 homes), and Marlborough (down 40.5% to 160 homes). 

Vanessa says New Zealand’s housing shortage is well documented and that, looking back at 13-years of data, it shows no signs of letting up. She says it will be interesting to see the impact of Kiwis returning home on stock levels. 

“As COVID-19 spreads, record numbers of Kiwis are returning to and staying in New Zealand. I think we can expect this to have an impact on the total number of homes available for sale around the country**,” says Vanessa.

The increase in international traffic to realestate.co.nz since April, Vanessa says, suggests that people are searching for property before arriving in the country. 

“Anecdotally, real estate agents nationwide are telling us that many Kiwis are even buying property sight-unseen from overseas or in quarantine,” says Vanessa.

Active vendors offer more choice for buyers

Despite the downward trend in total stock, many vendors and agents were busy last month with new listings coming onto the market nationally in October 2020 up 13.8% (11,649 new listings) on the same time last year.

Auckland, West Coast, Otago, and Gisborne saw the most activity with new listings increasing by 36.8%, 22.4%, 18.9% and 18.8% respectively.

Vanessa says those looking for property will be buoyed by the fact that they had more listings to choose from in October 2020 than they did in the same month last year. She says, if the increase in new listings continues, this could impact asking prices in these regions.

“Typically, we see an increase in Kiwis looking to sell during the summer months with a drop off over the busy Christmas season.”

“However, the impact of the nationwide lockdown earlier this year and the changes that many Kiwis are experiencing as a result of COVID-19 mean it is anyone’s guess when new listings will peak this season,” says Vanessa.

 

Is Auckland’s all-time asking price high and record stock low driven by overseas buyers?

Topping $1 million for the first time in September 2020, the average asking price in New Zealand’s largest city held strong during October. Increasing marginally by 1.2% on last month, the average asking price in Auckland was up by 8.4% on October last year to $1,015,383.

International traffic to realestate.co.nz has been up since April and a survey in July found that almost as many overseas residents (45.9%) as Kiwi citizens (49.3%) were searching for property in New Zealand***.

The majority of these overseas property seekers were looking in Auckland and Vanessa says this could be driving up prices in the region4.

“New Zealand has long been seen as a safe haven and when we look at our website traffic, we can see interest from overseas buyers surges when we have good news about COVID-19 (i.e. no new cases) but that this interest drops back whenever we have negative COVID-19 news,” says Vanessa.

User data from realestate.co.nz shows that, behind Aucklanders, there were more people from England and New South Wales looking at property in the Auckland region than New Zealanders in other parts of the country last month.

“It looks like our counterparts in Australia and the UK have their eyes set on Auckland property,” says Vanessa.

Auckland vendors were also the most active of all regions last month with 36.8% more new listings coming onto the market in October 2020 compared to October 2019.

 

 

 

References:

* The only region where prices dropped year-on-year was in Central Otago/Lakes where prices decreased by 3.4%. However, prices regularly fluctuate in this region due to the high number of lifestyle properties for sale in the area.   

** Statistics New Zealand: NZ citizens migrating home in record numbers

***Survey of international traffic to realestate.co.nz between 23 and 29 July 2020. 45.9% of respondents described themselves as an Overseas Resident.  49.4% of respondents described themselves as a New Zealand Citizen/Permanent Resident. 4.8% of respondents described themselves as ‘other’ and were excluded from further questions.