New property listings steadily coming in

Listings of Northland properties for sale are up more than 10 per cent from January 2015.

New listings of Northland properties for sale are up more than 10 per cent, according to Realestate.co.nz figures.

Fresh listings were up 10.8 per cent this January on a year ago to 482. The region's average asking price was $448,521, slightly up on the previous month.

LJ Hooker Whangarei chief executive Paul Beazley said new listings had been coming in steadily over January, however he thought overall listing numbers were down.

The number of new properties coming on to the market was reassuring because there was a demand for homes in the area, particularly family homes.

There had been a supply shortage in the $450,000 to $550,000 price range over the past 12 months due to an abundance of sales.

Mr Beazley said there had been some concern at the amount of properties being sold to investors, however he believed there were enough houses to go around.

"I think the locals are getting their fair share," he said.

Median days on the market in December was under 30, for the first time in a long while.
Brendon Skipper, chief executive of Realestate.co.nz, said eight regions experienced new record highs in average asking price in January.

They were Central Otago, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Canterbury, Waikato, Taranaki, Coromandel and Southland.

The national average asking price in January was $542,514, up on December but short of the all-time high of $568,215 set in August 2015.

The number of new listings was 8144, down 14.6 per cent compared to the same month a year ago, said Mr Skipper.

National inventory in January hit a new all-time low of 14.7 weeks.

Inventory is a measure of the national supply of homes for sale, expressed as the number of weeks it would take for all currently listed properties to sell at average rates, should no new properties get listed. Northland's inventory was 37 weeks.

"The record highs in average asking price in a number of regions need to be seen in the context of fewer listings and tightening inventory," he said.