Barfoot & Thompson's February sales figures suggest there is a glut of homes for sale.
The real estate agency, which is the largest in the Auckland market, sold 633 residential properties in February.
That's not a bad result.
It's up 54% on February last year when the market was well and truly in a slump, but down 16% on February 2022 and down 44% compared to February 2021.
Looking at the long term sales figures, last month's sales were probably just a bit below average.
However, the number of homes that were sold was swamped by the number of homes that are for sale.
Barfoot's received 2255 new listings in February, the the highest number of new listings in February since 2017 and the highest number in any month of the year since November 2021, which was the peak of the last housing boom.
That pushed up the total number of residential properties for sale on Barfoot's books to 5382 at the end of February.
Barfoots have not had that many properties to sell since April 2011, which means current stock levels are at a near 13 year high.
Both the average and median selling prices edged up compared to January but remained below where they were in the latter months of last year.
The agency's average selling price was $1,116,150 in February, up 3% compared to January, but down 5.5% compared to December last year.
The median selling price was $970,000 in February, up 0.4% compared to January, but down 6.7% compared to December.
"There is a log jam of homes for sale which is creating the largest buyers' market we have seen since 2011," Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said.
"This build up of homes started in August and in the last six months has reached the point where buyers have rarely had such a depth of choice.
"The build up of homes for sale is a combination of a high number of new homes reaching the market, owner-occupiers moving forward with relocation plans as the market re-emerges from the downward cycle and the normal hesitancy of buyers trying to get their timing right in terms of price and mortgage rate," Thompson said.
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