Where is spring surge?

The usual surge in new home listings on to the market in August is noticeably weaker this year, Realestate.co.nz says.

Friday, September 12th 2014, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

The website said there had been 9482 new listings last month, 11.5% down on the same time last year. The fall affected most regions around the country, with only Northland, the Coromandel and Central North Island bucking the trend.

“Realestate.co.nz represents 96% of all property listings by real estate agents in New Zealand, so we get a very representative overview of the market,” marketing manager Paul McKenzie said.

“Every August, we start to see strong lifts in new home listings after the quieter winter months. The expected lift did come this year, but it’s not nearly as dramatic as in the past. For instance, we have seen an increase of 3.5% from July to August this year, compared to the same time last year, where we saw a significant lift of 8.7%. However, we still expect an upsurge before the end of the year, as new listings usually peak in October and November.”

Asking prices have also eased compared to July, but remain at near record levels.

Nationally, the average asking price is up 4.5% on the same time last year, with 12 of the 19 regions in New Zealand recording higher average asking prices than a year ago. In Auckland, the average asking price rose from $650,114 a year ago to $698,494 this August, after breaching the $700,000 mark in June and July. In Wellington, the average asking price in August 2014 was $457,145 (up from $445,531 the year before) and in Canterbury $449,995 (up from $422,043 the year before).

The prices properties fetch may be affected by a shortage of supply. The total inventory of homes available for sale at the end of August – only 36,694 – sits close to the record low levels seen in August last year.

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