Property market up again: Trade Me

There is strong demand from both buyers and sellers of New Zealand property, with a notable upsurge in Wellington. Photo / file

There is strong demand from both buyers and sellers of New Zealand property with a "surge" in the number of listed properties and the national average asking price climbing 2.7 per cent.

According to the latest Trade Me Property Index, released today, the national average asking price was $623,700 in October.

This follows five months of little movement and low stock, said head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries.

"It's early days but it seems that spring has finally arrived for the New Zealand property market.

"Usually by this time of year we expect to see the property market in full swing, but with the election in play it's pushed everything back. We're starting to see some of the movement we'd normally expect in this peak buying and selling season."

After five months of slowing down, average asking prices in Auckland went back up 2.2 per cent on this time last year to $916,900, not far off the record $925,300.

Correspondingly, average views of Trade Me's property listings were up 10 per cent.

Since 2010, when the average asking price in the city was just $487,250, the number of houses for sale in Auckland has dropped 58 per cent while the population has boomed, forcing this up by 88 per cent, Jeffries said.

In Wellington, asking prices reached a new record high last month, up 11.7 per cent on last year to $548,500.

"It's a great time to sell your house and a tough time for first home buyers. We are seeing
plenty of demand from buyers in the region, and from a seller's perspective there's not too much competition," Jeffries said.

The average asking price of large houses [five or more bedrooms] in the capital jumped 18.7 per cent on last year to a new record high of $973,550. In Auckland sellers are on average asking for $1,392,500.

Almost all of provincial New Zealand saw increased asking prices, with Hawke's Bay,
Manawatu and Waikato all reaching record average asking prices of $487,300, $309,700 and $534,900, respectively

In the South Island, Marlborough saw the highest annual increase of $51,500 to a record
average asking price of $464,650.

Average change in Property Price Index October 2016 - 2017

- Northland + 6.2 per cent
- Auckland + 2.2 per cent
- Bay of Plenty + 6.9 per cent
- Waikato + 10.2 per cent
- Gisborne + 7.8 per cent
- Taranaki + 8.7 per cent
- Manawatu/Whanganui + 13.1 per cent
- Wellington + 11.7 per cent
- Nelson / Tasman + 7 per cent
- Marlborough + 12.5 per cent
- Canterbury + 0.7 per cent
- Otago + 7.4 per cent
- Southland + 11.1 per cent
- West Coast -0.1 per cent