Record average asking prices in Waikato, BoP and Coromandel

The Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel regions reached record high average asking prices in November, according to data from Realestate.co.nz, New Zealand’s largest website dedicated only to property. The national average asking price of homes for sale continues to plateau, remaining just below record highs achieved three months ago. In Waikato, the average asking price in November was $413,067 (up from $403,640 in August). In Bay of Plenty, the new record is $487,025 (up from $481,730 in October) and in the Coromandel the new high is $554,303 (up from $539,597 in September). "It is significant that the areas where asking prices are at record highs are all within striking distance of Auckland," says Brendon Skipper, CEO of Realestate.co.nz. "There have been strong indications over recent months that Aucklanders are house hunting further afield, which is helping to raise the expectations of sellers in these neighbouring regions." The national average asking price in November was $547,515, which is 1.4% up from October, but still slightly down from the national record of $568,215 in August. In Auckland, the average asking price of $849,882 was marginally lower than the record of $851,531 in September. In both Wellington and Canterbury, the average asking prices for November were within $10,000 of the record highs achieved in August and September respectively. Auckland apartment asking prices surge The average asking price for Auckland apartments in November reached a new record high of $660,001. This represents an increase of 31.5% compared to November 2014, when the average asking price for apartments in Auckland breached $500,000 for the first time. The increase in the asking price for apartments (31.5%) is almost twice as much as the increase in asking price for Auckland houses (16.8%) over the same period. "We’ve seen the asking price of apartments in Auckland increase strongly and steadily over the last 24 months," says Brendon Skipper. "This has driven the national average, which has now breached the $600,000 mark for the first time, only eight months after the national average asking price for apartments first broke the $500,000 barrier in March." Auckland dominates the market for apartments nationally, accounting for 71.9% of all national apartment listings. New listings down on November last year New listings nationally show a 5.6% reduction from the same month last year. Auckland had 7.0% fewer listings this November compared to November 2014, Wellington had 16.7% fewer and Canterbury had 5.1% fewer. Again, the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel are among the regions bucking this trend. All three of these regions had the most new listings for any November for at least five years. "Nationally, we’ve seen fewer listings this year than we have since November 2009," says Brendon Skipper. "This may further exacerbate the shortage of inventory, which still hovers near the all-time low of 16.1 weeks we reached last month." 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. The inventory for November was 16.8 weeks, compared to a long-term average of 35 weeks.