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The traditionally strong bounce in property listings was subdued in October, with new listings during the month down 6% from October 2008, property website realestate.co.nz said.

New listings on the site were up 7% from September while asking prices were steady and inventory levels rose as sales volumes remained subdued during the month, CEO Alistair Helm said.

“We are seeing a certain confidence in the market through people searching on the site and also people listing their property, but the seasonal uplift in listings has not happened as it did in years gone by,” Helm said.

Realestate.co.nz lists over 100,000 properties at any one time, representing over 90% of all listings currently marketed by real estate agents.

New listings jumped 19% in September from August, which was ahead of expectations, Helm said at the time. However, growth in October, which tends to be one of the largest months for new listings, was below growth in previous years.

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The spring impact on the housing market “clearly showed” as the number of new listings on property website realestate.co.nz jumped 19% in September from August, CEO Alistair Helm said. Asking prices were also up 6% from August.

“As the economy slowly recovers from the impact of the recession, it appears sellers are more confident that buyers will be active in the market and willing to engage at a market rate for their property,” Helm said.

“While we always expect an increase in both the number of listings and the price expectations during the spring/summer period, this relatively large jump on both figures is a strong indicator of improved health in the property market,” he said.

“The anticipated seasonal lift in new listings coming onto the market as measured by the website occurred in September at a level ahead of expectations.”

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A shortage of residential house sale listings in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch is an indication that home sellers have the upper hand over buyers ahead of the traditional spring upturn in the property market, realestate.co.nz said in its monthly NZ Property Report.

“The arrival of spring typically signals a surge in residential property market activity, but with inventory levels low this year – particularly in the three largest centres – vendors may be encouraged to increase asking prices,” realestate.co.nz CEO Alistair Helm said.

However looking at August figures, Helm said an increase in prices had not been seen yet. August asking prices were little changed from July, which reflected a “stable market with no signs of heated property price inflation,” Helm said.

“If potential sellers continued to hold off listing their properties, however, the shortage of available stock could push prices up over the coming months,” he said.

The August truncated mean asking price on realestate.co.nz was NZ$397,187, which was still 7% below the peak of NZ$429,033 seen in October 2007.

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The number of new property listings on realestate.co.nz fell 21% in April from March and 34% from April last year. However, April traditionally has been a quieter month for new listings, realestate.co.nz CEO Alistair Helm said.

The average asking price for listed properties was unchanged from March at NZ$405,936 (a truncated mean). This was down 2% down from April 2008.

“This lower listing inventory which has been seen as a trend for over 12 months, matched to the recent awakening of sales in February and March, could mark the end of the buyer’s market which is how the property market has been typified over the past 18 months,” Helm said.

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