Fewest homes for sale for at least eight years

There are now fewer residential properties listed for sale nationwide than at any time since 2006, potentially longer, according to new data released by Realestate.co.nz. The largest New Zealand website dedicated only to property represents over 97% of all agent supplied property listings in the country - more than any other single resource. The data shows that in September there were only 30,988 properties for sale across New Zealand. "Historically, the number of homes for sale tends to be fairly stable, following gradual, long-term trends," says Brendon Skipper, CEO of Realestate.co.nz. "Given that the number of homes for sale when we started keeping records in January 2007 was nearly 43,000, we can safely assume that this is the fewest homes on the market in New Zealand for a much longer time, possibly a decade." Over the last eight years, the number of the homes for sale climbed steadily to a high point of 58,137 in April 2008. It remained consistently near 50,000 for another three years, before starting a slow, steady decline to the present level. "We use a metric we call inventory, a measure of supply and demand that indicates how long it would take, in theory, for all the current properties on the market to be sold at the average rate of sales. In September, inventory nationally dropped to its lowest level since we’ve started keeping records," says Skipper. "We have only 16.3 weeks of inventory compared to the long-term average of 35 weeks. In our main centres, the situation is even more extreme. In Auckland, the inventory is only 9.6 weeks and in Wellington 11.1 weeks." The current inventory levels across all 19 regions of New Zealand are now below their respective long-term regional averages. More new listings, but properties do not stay on market for long "The fact that inventory is so low may seem surprising, given that we have seen an increase in listings in most regions compared to September last year, especially in Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Significantly, these are the three regions with the lowest level of inventory in the country, along with Wellington. The simple truth is that these properties are now spending less time in the market, suggesting that market pressures will remain high while the current rate of turnover continues," says Skipper. "Low inventory such as this is usually associated with a sellers’ market and higher asking prices, as we have seen in recent months." While Realestate.co.nz data for September reveals that the average asking prices in many regions have dropped since August, the longer term trend shows strong increases in asking price. Six regions in the country achieved their highest average asking price in September 2015, with a further seven reaching their record in August. The remaining six regions have all recorded their highest ever average asking price in the last six months.