Traditionally January is a weak month as it is a short business month, however the fall from the record low of new listing in December is significant and the level of new listings for January 2011 is significantly low as compared to long term averages, the latest NZ Property Report shows.
Three years ago a total of 26,097 new listings came onto the market in the combined months of December 2007 and January 2008; a year later as the market abruptly slowed the number fell to19,313. In 2009/2010 a year ago, there was an increase to 20,621. But this year over the same period the total is 17,224.
‘The market situation is unusual. Such low level of listings would normally reflect in a tight market where sellers would have the upper hand. However the scale of the unsold inventory, matched to still relatively low levels of sales, means that buyers have a great selection to research and a strong buyer advantage,’ the report says.
‘It strangely would seem to be a market where the needs of buyers and sellers can be met. New listings tend to attract most interest in a property market and with such a recent shortage; new listings in the coming months will likely attract buyer interest. Recent new vendors with new listings are setting realistic price expectations as shown by the truncated mean asking price down to $406,525 this month,’ it adds.
The truncated mean asking price for all new listings coming onto the market in January fell by over $9,000 from $415,750 to $406,525. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price remained unchanged from December at $416,666. There is traditionally a fall in asking price in January.
The current asking price slipped further from the peak of asking price back in October 2007, it is now currently off 5.2%.
The inventory of unsold houses remains high in absolute terms as the sales activity impact is not being felt, even allowing for the significant lower level of new listings. At the current level the inventory still remains well above the long term average of 40 weeks.
Nationally asking prices are down 2.7% as compared to the recent three month average. The only regions bucking the trend are the three east coast regions of Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne, together with Southland.
Significant slippage in asking prices are being seen in five regions – Waikato, Central North Island, Queenstown Lakes, Otago and the largest fall of 8.4% in the Hawkes Bay. The three main metropolitan regions of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury are all showing weaker asking prices of between 3% and 4%.
Such low levels of listings pushes the market into a situation with a shortage of new properties to attract buyer, for despite the high inventory levels the attraction of new listings remain the lifeblood of the industry.
In Auckland just 238 new apartment listings came onto the market which represented a 5.2% year on year decline. The asking price for Auckland apartments in the month was $342,250 which was 7% down on the recent three month average, but identical to the asking price expectation of a year ago.
