Sellers' markets for houses spreading, industry says

Friday 1st July 2011

The number of regions considered by the real estate industry to be sellers' markets is growing, as home owners become increasingly reluctant to list their properties for sale.

The monthly newsletter for June from industry website Realestate.co.nz said the national stock of unsold houses on the market was down to 42.1 weeks, the closest it had been to the long term average of 41 weeks in two years.

The 9111 new listings in June were 18 percent down from the level a year earlier, and continued a downward trend from the previous two months.

Auckland, Queenstown, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Otago were the most significant regions experiencing a shift to a sellers' market, and now had inventory levels below long term averages, the report, published today, said.

That could result in elevated buyer demand with a potential to see property prices rise.

Not far behind those regions were Nelson, Wellington, Canterbury and West Coast.

Nine provincial regions remained firmly in a buyers' market with existing inventory well above long term average, the report said.

Despite the emergence of sellers' markets in several regions, prices being asked by vendors were not rising. At a little over $415,000 last month, the truncated mean asking price was barely changed from May and up just 1.2 percent from a year earlier.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

No comments yet