There are further signs the housing market is heading into winter with a large oversupply of unsold homes.
Trade Me Property is the latest property website to report a surge in properties for sale, after rival website Realestate.co.nz reported a similar surge a week ago.
Trade Me Property said the number of properties listed for sale on the site hit a decade high in February, and continued to climb another 6% in March. That puts total stock up 12% compared to March last year.
Viewings on the website were also up, suggesting increased demand form buyers, although that was not a surprise because February and March are traditionally the busiest months of the year for residential real estate.
"We've seen a fairly persistent imbalance between supply and demand in more recent times, with more homes available than demand suppressing the big pricing gains we saw back in 2021," Trade Me Property Customer Director Gavin Lloyd said.
"While it's great to see demand momentum gaining, and we saw highs in March not seen since mid-2020, the current market still offers buyers a huge amount of choice,' he said.
On the pricing side, Trade Me Property's average asking price was $861,900 in March, up $10,000 (1.2%) compared to February, but down 2.6% compared to March last year.
Around the country, price trends in March were mixed, with Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu/Whanganui, Nelson/Tasman and Canterbury showing average asking price gains compared to February. Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Taranaki, Marlborough, West Coast, Otago and Southland showed declines, with no change in Wellington. See the chart below for the regional figures.
The comment stream on this article is now closed.
5 Comments
Oh dear, more phony equity about to be flushed away….
Like Briscoes, every one is waiting for the sale, no one pays normal price
Agreed. The only people paying sticker are those that need to, or were sucked into off the plans that are about to be delivered.
🍿
Yeah nah...
Still too many people with lots of money that can hang onto properties and not sell. Mostly applicable to all the new builds sitting waiting to be sold in the last six months or so.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.