by The Landlord
Trade Me Property data shows sellers are becoming more cautious in their expectations.
The site has released its analysis of new listings in the three months to the end of January.
Asking prices slipped by 1.1% between December and January, following a fall of 1% a month earlier.
The average asking price across all property types for the three months to January was $498,550, back below $500,000 for the first time since October 2014.
The Property Price Index measures trends in the expectations of selling prices for residential property listings added to Trade Me Property by real estate agents and private sellers over the past three months.
Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the easing in asking prices showed there was uncertainty around the strength of the market through the holiday period, but this was likely temporary. "We suspect recent reports around the outlook for lower interest rates through the remainder of 2015 will see a reversal of this softness in the market over the next few months."
Jeffries said the easing masked strong underlying growth over the medium and long term.
"Over the past 12 months we've seen asking prices increase by over 14%, and over the past five years the expected selling prices have risen by just under 25%."
Outside the main metropolitan areas, there was strong growth in asking prices.
Four regions hit new record highs in asking price: Hawke's Bay (up 23.7% to a new high of $391,200 over the past year), Taranaki (up 12.3% to $375,250), Bay of Plenty (up 7% to $454,550), and Southland (up 5.5% to $238,500).
Jeffries said that since the recovery of the property market in 2011 there has been a two-speed market, but that was changing. "We've become accustomed to the strength of the property market in Auckland and Christchurch, with the rest of the country languishing behind. However recent months have seen this change and the majority of provincial regions are seeing strong year-on-year gains in average asking prices."
In the year to January 2015, only Gisborne saw asking price expectations fall, down 6.7%.
There was low single-digit percentage growth in Northland and the West Coast, but all other regions experienced growth in selling price expectation of more than 5%.
In the main metro areas, Wellington and Canterbury reported growth of 6.5% and 8.8% respectively, and Auckland continued to power on with price expectations up 13% over the past year.
The trend of smaller properties of one and two bedrooms seeing stronger growth than the other segments of the property market continues. Over the past year, the expected selling price of smaller homes has risen by more than 15% from $286,000 to $330,550. In Auckland, this increase has amounted to almost $90,000 per property, landing at a new high of $552,450 in January.
Jeffries said this trend reflected continuing demand from investors and first-time buyers taking advantage of the competitive marketplace for mortgages.
The asking price trend for larger houses continues to ease. In Christchurch, the selling price expectations for larger houses tumbled 16.5% year-on-year.
Jeffries said the apartment market continued to reach new heights. In January, the selling price expectation for an apartment rose to $436,800, up 17% increase on a year ago. In Auckland, the market remained very active, up 21% year-on-year. This represented a $75,000 increase in selling expectation in the past 12 months, and the average asking price was now $439,150.
The rate of increase across the segments of townhouses and units was less significant than for apartments, but Auckland's market for townhouses continued to rise strongly, up 11% rise to a new high of $650,450.
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