Asking price for homes at record levels

File photo / Greg Bowker

Web site Realestate.co.nz says house sellers' average asking price last month was at record levels.

Buyer interest is still high with traffic numbers to the site up and there are more than 40,000 available houses for sale nationally.

Sellers' national average asking price was $483,524, only marginally below the record set in March of $484,263. In Auckland, the average asking price was $685,246, almost the same as the new record set in April of $685,426.

In Wellington the average asking price in May was $453,850, while Canterbury came to $442,784.

Regional map of house asking prices in New Zealand for May 2014

Despite strong prices sought by sellers, there are still plenty of Kiwis looking for homes to buy, says marketing manager at Realestate.co.nz, Paul McKenzie.

"The good news for buyers is that the available stock of houses for sale is steadily recovering from the historic low levels of August last year," he said.

According to the website, there were 10,745 new listings of houses for sale in May, which is a five per cent increase from April.

Map showing the number of new property listings by region for May 2014