Home owners prepared to wait for their price

Home owners trying to sell their properties are buttoning down and waiting for their price, according to the latest report on the state of the housing market.

The NZ Property Report, a monthly report of market activity, was compiled by Realestate.co.nz, a property listing website with more than 118,000 listings.

It said despite a continuing high number of unsold houses, sellers were prepared to sit out a longer sales cycle and were not moving on asking prices.

The average asking price of sellers in April was largely unchanged from March, at $422,520, only two per cent below the market peak in October 2007.

The report said the high inventory level of unsold houses remained.

"We've got massive inventory on the market, but sellers aren't getting desperate," said Alistair Helm, from Realestate.co.nz.

"In fact, we're seeing asking prices remain quite steady, reinforcing the sentiment that sellers are becoming accustomed to a longer sales cycle as the new norm for real estate."

He said houses were New Zealanders' biggest assets and owners were not prepared to capitulate on price when selling, despite the high levels of inventory.

He said the volume of new listings coming onto the market in April fell 15 per cent from March but this was a seasonal reduction.

Overall, the market continued to favour buyers based on the stock of unsold homes and the number of new listings hitting the market, he said.

- NZPA