New Zealand homes could 'sell out' in weeks

Record fall in listings could see some of the country's housing stock 'sell out' in weeks. Photo / 123RF

If no new listings come onto the market - many areas around the country could sell out in a matter of weeks.

The statement has come from one of the country's largest property websites after July saw a "record fall" in new listings on realestate.co.nz

The latest statistics from realestate.co.nz indicated based on historical sales trends, stock in the capital would sell out in a mere six weeks.

Wellington had just 899 properties available for sale and in July saw just 582 new listings, 12.5 per cent less compared to the same period in 2016.

And if no new houses are listed for the country's largest city, in a mere five months Auckland's property stock would "sell out" in 23 weeks.

In Auckland new listings this July had dropped 13.9 per cent to 2,703, compared to July 2016.

The total number of residential properties available for sale in the city was 8,019 in July.

Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said the 7,933 new listings nationwide was the lowest number in any July month since its records began in 2007.

The site represented 97 per cent of all properties listed through registered real estate agents.

Taylor said elsewhere in the country the figures were also trending downwards.

"Of the 19 regions in New Zealand, all but one region (Nelson, which remained static), experienced a decline in the number of new listings in July compared to the previous year.

In the North Island the area that saw the most drop in listings, compared to the same period last year was the Waikato, a total of 612 new listings down 27 per cent, Bay of Plenty, 565 down 26.3 per cent and Taranaki, 163 down 22.4 per cent.

Meanwhile further south, the drops were even bigger with only 150 new listings in Central Otago/Lakes falling 32.4 per cent compared to July 2016, while Otago listings dropped by 28.8 per cent, with just 237 new ones this month.

Taylor said at the same time New Zealand's average asking prices for homes fell by only 0.3 per cent from June, to $626,413 in July this year.

"It's a classic case of supply and demand, we have seen a tightening in supply along with a decrease in demand which means a stable price environment."

However, despite prices remaining steady overall a few regions did buck the trend with lifts in asking price of more than five per cent.

The largest rise was in the Coromandel, with an 11.2 per cent lift in asking price, to $761,096, compared to the previous month.

Northland followed with a 5.6 per cent rise to $557,564, Marlborough was up 5.4 per cent to $485,460 and the Central North Island up 5.1 per cent to $461,910.

At the other end of the scale, the largest falls in asking price for July compared to June were in Otago, down 7.9 per cent, to $351,729 and the Wairarapa down 7 per cent to $400,208.