The average asking price of homes listed for sale on Realestate.co.nz reached a new all time high of $514,712 in March.
It was the third consecutive month that the average asking price on the website has set a new record.
At the same time the number of new listings coming on to the website in March declined to its lowest point for a March month since 2009, when the property market was in the doldrums.
The regional pacesetters in the market were Auckland and Canterbury, with both achieving record new average asking prices in March; $766,912 in Auckland and $467,126 in Canterbury.
Asking prices for Wairarapa properties also set a new record of $357,949.
The average asking price of $461,905 for Wellington region properties was 1.6% less than the record of $469,487 set in March last year.
There were 11,870 properties newly listed for sale on the website in March, down 4.9% on March last year.
Thirteen regions recorded a decline in new listings in March compared with a year ago, while six recorded increases.
In Auckland new listings were down by 5.2% to 4160, in Wellington they dropped 9.2% to 1032 and in Canterbury they were up 3.8% to 1508.
"There is no let up in asking price, especially with regions such as Canterbury and Auckland experiencing new highs," Realestate.co.nz chief executive Brendon Skipper said.
"With the slight fall in the number of new listings in March, sellers are in a good position to maximise the value of their homes."
The tightness of the market is reflected in inventory levels around the country, which are well below their long term averages in most regions.
Inventory is measured as the number of weeks it would take to sell all of the homes listed for sale on the website, at the current rate of sale.
The inventory level for the whole country was 23 weeks in March, compared to its long term average of 36 weeks.
In Auckland the inventory was 11 weeks compared to the long term average of 26 weeks, in Wellington it was 17 weeks compared to the long term average of 21 weeks and in Canterbury it was 20 weeks compared to the long term average of 27 weeks.
See the maps below for the average asking prices, number of new listings and inventory levels in all regions of the country:
Housing inventory
Select chart tabs
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55 Comments
Homestart released today will automatically increase house prices by the amount of the grant - same thing happend in the late $80's when a similar homestart scheme was released. 90,000 additional house buyers now released upon the market who can use this scheme - pressure on prices will be massive!
I'm interested in Barfoot & Thompson's numbers for last month. Should be out thtis week. Over the last couple of months the "asking prices up" story has been published by Realestate.conz only to be followed by Barfoots saying real prices had eased. I wonder if it will be three months in row...
When I ask about prices they say "oh Machiavelli..." and tell me there is no let up. Then go on to report amazing sale prices on recent properties. Perhaps the top end has slowed down so prices look to be easing in the stats but that's not what is going on in the middle of the market.
Where are all the doomsters? When winter arrives and figures pull back they'll be on here in droves no doubt. Then Spring will arrive and they'll go quiet again. Market forces will keep pushing Auckland up until a lot of houses are built, the immigration tap is turned off or there's some massive economic shock. The homestart grant is great for existing property owners! Rents going up too. All is good in Your Landlord's land I would say.
Who do you bank with? All my loan contracts state that I have to pay them back. Unless you are referring to the fact the tenants are the one's paying them back for me?
Not a lot could go wrong for me personally. If we get more than a 30% price drop I'll be a bit disappointed but it won't effect my strategy as a long term investor creating income streams and a retirement fund. Better than relying on the pension being around I'd say! Or would you prefer I blow all my disposable income on eating out and shiny shoes and put my hand out for the pension come retirement?
Just keep paying those ever-increasing asking prices. There's no way you will ever come a cropper. Just ask my friends in Greece, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Japan and the USA. Or anyone in any maket in the known universe for that matter.
Because, you know, "Un Zul'n uss duffrunt un spushull."
Good luck.
Your perfectly valid doubt is based on Un Zul'n buyunk duffrunt un spushull.
How could you possibly be wrong with impeccable logic such as that?
Likewise, the NZ property market is entirely based upon the sensible belief that incomes can remain static or even retrench as prices vastly increase indefinitely without any risk of catasprophic collapse.
No, I see only good things for the future... Magical things, with ponies and sparkly pixie dust and cake for all.
Guess who just got "richer" on an utterly valueless paper scale? You did! Guess who's going to see those riches disappear in a puff of digital smoke when equilibrium inevitably returns to the property market? You and all the others who believe in the old dictum, "YA CAN'T LOSE WITH HOUSES, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111"
Here's how I, like all intelligent people, see my house: A furnished box in which we shelter from the elements and raise families. It has little inherent value, but many ongoing boatlike costs, and is ridiculously unproductive.
Now here's how the fool views a house: YA CAN'T LOSE, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111
Sounds like your house is in Tokoroa?
Case in point - people were making the same remarks as you are today many years ago on this site. Those of us that have invested in Auckland property have not lost. If we'd paid attention to the doomsters and waited for the "bust" we'd probably be bitter like you too. Instead we're very happy and continuing to work on providing people rental properties in what is a difficult housing market for many.
BTW - you're not an Aussie cricketer are you?
Machiavelli, being a doomster has nothing to do with it. Whilst you may might be okay, there are many thousands more, particualarly the young, who are on the sharp end of these insane prices. Many of us are concerned about these people.
Through now fault of their they havent a hope in hell of getting on the property ladder in time to settle and raise a family (meanwhile their elders gorge on goldcards, nat super, working for families, a lifetime of full employment, no student debt, a ransacked environment and so on).
I find it very ugly the way you and others gloat about your superior financial positions over others who have not had the same life oppurtinities and luck as you.
rastus. I'm 35. I don't have a gold card. I won't get nat super. I don't qualify for working for families. I have created my own employment and employment for others via my own businesses. I had a big student loan. I use eco lightbulbs (led now) and recycle, compost etc.
I pay a bucket load of tax as well as paying for everything privately. I get minimal benefit from any of the tax I pay. I'm happy to see my taxes going to those more in need - even though it's mostly wasted but that's another debate.
Yes I am happy that I'm in a good financial position. Don't confuse this with not caring about those worse off than me. On this site I say things as I see them and I report on what I am seeing in the Auckland property market. Don't confuse this with willing our young to suffer. I am on here to provide a perspective from someone benefiting from the current state of affairs. I am not saying it is right.
Secretly I'm somewhat of a communist! I most definitely do not agree with the system but I'm doing my best to win at it so that my children can have good lives. I realised long ago that we live in a selfish capitalist society where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and it's every man for himself. I made a decision to win under this system because above all else I am a father. Philosophically I think the world is in a repugnant state of affairs. Human nature is what it is though.
We on here all debate the share markets, property, interest rates and how they can be changed to make us better off. These are not the real issue though. The issue is the system itself. Capitalism can only lead to one ouctome. Look around you and you can see what that is. You say you find our gloating ugly. Why? We are just winning at capitalism. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?
.... sounds like you have been fortunate and if you are honest, born into luck. I too may, on paper, be the benficiary of rising house prices. But I don't see this as a benefit, as it is wrecking widepsread misery and ultimatley creating an unhealthy unsafe and unjust society. Landlords gloating on the site don't seem to be able to see this bigger picture - they behave more like aussie cricketers.
I'll be the first one to accept any luck coming my way. But I am a firm believer you create your own luck. While my mates were off in Europe on van tour I was working paying back my student loan and saving for a house deposit. Van tour would have been fun though..
I think most Landlords can see the bigger picture. They see that there are winners and losers. They choose to be in the former group. Can you really blame them for that decision? It frustrates me that people are quick to blame landlords. They are like any other group of business people - trying to make the best out of the system that has been set up around them.
I think what you are asking for is revolution.
They are like any other group of business people - trying to make the best out of the system that has been set up around them.
They also determine the rules of the system through political pressure. 'Feather your nest and screw the rest!' We should probably include that somewhere in our anthem.
Very, very well said Mach.
If I say on this site (as I've correctly been saying for years) "Auckland house prices are going to rise", that's simply an observation. And as for the so called bragging by landlords on here I would say that they are goaded into it due to the open hostility. We are simply successful people and if we didn't invest in Auckland houses we would, successfully, invest elsewhere, this I believe is the crux of the issue, we're successful, they're not and they are jealous.
As for the system, I don't make the system and can't influence it any more than the next guy. I am either going to be a victim of it or successful in it and I have choosen the later. If someone asks me "How do you make money" my answer would be very different to the question "What is the best way to run the country for the benefit of all and future generations".
Blaming landlords for Auckland house price rises is like saying "I coughed so now I have a cold". We are a symptom, not the cause.
Yes happy. So many on here try to paint a picture of the "evil landlord". Most landlords I know are very positive, conscientious, hardworking people, often fitting in property investment around other busy "day jobs".
If property investment wasn't a good financial strategy we wouldn't do it. But it is, so we do. If things were different I'm sure we'd all pursue different financial strategies to achieve financial freedom and wealth and as you say we'd be succesful at that too. Then the naysayers would would deomonize us for that. I would say to them:
Don't hate the player. Hate the game!
Hah you don't 'invest' in property -- you pay too much for something that's not even close to worth the money you just spent and there's always that danger of the market correcting before you get your money back. And kiss goodbye the capital gain you smug little babyboomers seem to think you're owed for some reason.
LOL
There is one thing I do miss from my renting days -- the ability to up and leave when I have to or want to. I could give the landlord 2 or 4 weeks rent and say seeya and be gone. The sale of my furniture more than covered that. Now I have to go through the sh*t of selling the house or renting it out if I want to go anywhere. Oh lordy me -- imagine entrusting my precious house investment to some of the dirty renters you hate so much!
LOL
I do wish that the money printers pounding the pavements exchanging dosh for our currency could realise that they have nothing on the Yanks and just about all other states of the world trying to keep afloat and scamming each other.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/67571567/counterfeit-cash-warning
The trouble is..people keep buying the damn stuff and buying short term gains for Banks and Governments to benefit..plus GST of course.
wow where is this tax-free capital gain you're talking about?
tax-paying tenants? Well they don't expect to rent expensive equipment (housing) for free do you??
Just need to get the off-shore funded/buyers removed from the equation. It's like going to a third world country where pay rate is under $3/day and buying up all their land and resources - the locals just don't get a look in. the exact reason we have sovereign separation
The tax-free captial gain is from property inflation.
The tenants pay tax on their income through PAYE, and the student loan risky poll tax. The tenant then pays the rent post tax.
I agree the off-shore buyers should be removed. Is New Zealand a country or a property market? Its an invasion with sellouts.
capital gain isn't guaranteed (and isn't happening in much of the country at the moment) and where it does happen it is normally devaluation of economic environment, the property doesn't inflate (except when external buyers chase holdings). In the majority of cases there is no inflation capital gain, and if it was planned on, it can only be realised at sale, which if planned on, _is_taxable_.
tenants and all other renters pay with money. profits are taxed. landlords income (distributable profit) is taxed. property mangers and their companies are taxed on their profits. The employER is actually the one paying the tax of a PAYE, because the employER can't purchase the services they contract without paying the tax inclusive amount. The employEE never sees that tax money, the employEE is taxed at consumption (through GST).
The student loan isn't a poll tax. Poll tax is on all voters, not all voters have student loans, especially older ones, and low income earners. A Student loan pays for the entertainment and certificate of higher income potential, that is consumed by the student. It is the student who is the owner of the fruits of that contract and it is the student who makes the decisions on how to apply it so it is definitely up to the student to pay for their choice of consumption.
The worst part with off-shore buyers is that they're coming from positions of extreme wealth compared to majority of NZers. It's not the majority of foreigners who are buying in NZ, it is the wealthy and connected foreigners - so where does that leave the locals to buy?? Government has duty-of-care to citizens, yet two major parties absolutely ignore that duty. Personally I think OIO members need to be personally prosecuted for their failure of their duty to NZers.
The capital gain is certainly guaranteed to the seller from a new home buyer (and my home town is Auckland). Inflation is very low (though I think CPI is really bunkum) and that is what wages are following. I hear of all these tax avoidance measures (intent etc.) didn’t capital gains tax get rejected at the last election? Landlord’s profit minus deduction may be taxed, aren’t yields very low? Its capital gains.
You sound like an employer, how can you claim the income tax of an employee is actually paid by you. They can’t give you their services without paying it.
The employee with a student loan is probably benefitting the employer more than the employee, in 2000 I was paid $12.5 and charged out at $120, and the government with their taxes (income, GST & stealth), these days a job can’t buy a house and a family, because housing costs have increased 300% compared to the long term average.
A student loan is worse than a poll task because it has no relation to the ability to pay. There are about 60K student loan delinquents overseas and another 60K doing the right thing and making payments. If they had a good look at their finances they should probably go bankrupt. 120K / 4M = 3%.Assuming one generation is 33% of the population that is 10%. Did those young people with delusions of grandeur know there was a 10% chance going to tertiary education would bankrupt them? Very risking when you think you’re not taking a risk.
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