The average asking prices of homes listed for sale on property website Realestate.co.nz were down in Auckland and Wellington last month but up in Canterbury.
The average national asking price of homes listed on the website in July was $475,370, a drop of $9,834, or 2%, from June's average asking price of $485,204.
In Auckland the average asking price declined form $707,087 in June to $682,816 in July, a fall of $24,271, or 3.4%.
In Wellington it dropped form $444,762 in June to $438,464 in July.
The Canterbury average rose from $438,597 in June to $448,794 in July.
The number of new listings on the website in July increased to 9,163, from 8,524 in June, a rise of 639 or 7.5%.
"The number of listings should be seen as indicative of the usual seasonal cycle," Realestate.co.nz marketing manager Paul McKenzie said.
"Every year we see a surge in the number of properties in the market when spring comes around and there is every reason to expect that the same will happen in August and September this year."
Realstate.co.nz's average asking prices are based on a truncated mean, which excludes the top and bottom 10% of prices.
Housing inventory
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5 Comments
The welcome cooling of the market is necessary to ensure mid-term stability. Strong boom-bust movements only benefit large speculators, rarely the small time investors who typically write here.
A sustained and significant downward movement in AKL remains unlikely because the place still creates most economic activity and draws in the crowds. A significant correction elsewhere would make a lot of sense though as current price levels seem out of touch in many places.
So all is well, except the fact that the fixation on property in NZ is fundementally pathological and is keeping the country from developing modern industries that could assure future prosperity.
Perhaps somebody can enlighten this naive monkey. I am always confused by these articles about the fantasy land that is NZ real estate.
Why is the "average" always discussed, as opposed to the only statistically relevent number - the median?
Why are value charts over time and annual return figures not inflation adjusted?
Why are 'inventory' figures bandied about by the real estate parasites as a positive figure, when in normal economic models increased supply with constant demand would depress prices?
Why are sales numbers bandied about by the real estate parasites, when in normal trading markets high volumes can be indicative of either bullish or bearish sentiment but mean little on their own?
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