Mortgagee listings drop for 3rd week running, but rental listings still rising

New Zealand mortgagee sales listings on realestate.co.nz and trademe.co.nz fell for the third consecutive week to their lowest levels since the end of October, but listings continued to grow in Auckland, our survey of listings shows. Total listings for New Zealand on both sites fell to 459 or 0.41% of listings in the week ended December 8 from 469 or 0.42% the previous week. This is the lowest for any one week since the week to November 3 and just over double the levels when we started the survey in early March. However, mortgagee listings in Auckland continued to rise in recent weeks. Total listings rose to 256 from 204 in the week ended November 3. Meanwhile rental listings continued to surge as students left university and headed away for summer holidays and seasonal work, forcing landlords to put flats and smaller houses back on the market. Our rental listings index rose 2.8% in the week to 189.753 and is now up almost 90% from its levels at the beginning of March. Subscribers looking for the full spreadsheet of this listings series should contact us. * This article was first published yesterday in our daily subscription newsletter for the banking and finance industries. The email costs NZ$365 per annum and carries exclusive news and analysis for New Zealand banking and finance industry executives, regulators and investors. Sign up for a free trial here.