Average residential property asking prices declined for the fourth consecutive month in June, according to the latest data from property website Realestate.co.nz.
The average asking price on the website fell to $839,730 in June from $898,677 in February, not seasonally adjusted, a drop of $58,947 (-6.6%) over that four month period.
In Auckland, the country's largest housing market, the average asking price has also declined for four consecutive months, to be just above the $1 million mark at $1,006,735 in June versus $1,097,748 in February. That's a drop of $91,013 (-8.3%) over the last four months.
Average asking prices on the website declined in 16 regions in June compared to May, while three regions, Northland, Taranaki and Canterbury went against the trend and had an increase in their average asking prices compared to May.
The biggest asking price declines between May and June were in Coromandel -$213,807, West Coast -$95,051 and Central Otago/Lakes (which includes Queenstown) -$59,381.
New residential listings on Realestate.co.nz have also declined from the summer peak of 12,252 in February to 7942 in June, although that was the highest number of new listings in the month of June since 2020.
There was a total of 34,761 residential properties available for sale on the website at the end of June, up 7.3% year-on-year, and the most residential stock realestate.co.nz has had available for sale in the month of June since 2014.
The only regions that had less stock for sale in June this year versus June last year were Central Otago/Lakes and Southland.
Realestate.co.nz CEO Sarah Wood said conditions favoured buyers who were ready to act.
"Stock is up across almost every region, which means buyers can be more considered in their decision making," Wood said.
"First home buyers in particular are recognising that conditions like these reward those who are ready to move," she said.
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22 Comments
Interestingly Coromandel and Otago Lakes are down, amongst others. Is capitulation bubble phase starting?
Lots of talk about tax as election cycle fires up. Land tax. Wealth tax. Capital gains tax. End of the day NZ needs more tax as GST and Income tax thresholds are already high.
Taxes to the left of me, Levies to the right.
Stuck in the middle with you.
Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
Money for nothing and finally tax not free
The rich have already bought. Now they are working on getting the bunkers installed.
Much higher Rates and New Property Taxes are comming down the pipe.
The land bankers and specuvestors can finally smell this and are exiting.......yes capitulation phase is beginning.
Boomers are on the move, downsizing or moving to a retirement village, which is causing a glut in houses-for-sale supply. This will keep a lid on prices for some time. It's a great time for First Home Buyers to get on the property ladder.
Its a great time for first home buyers or it 'will be' a great time for FHB's if prices continue to fall. Still massively overpriced property market.
Trying to pick the bottom of the market is impossible and pointless in my opinion. If you're in it for the long term (which most home buyers are), what happens in the next year or two is irrelevant. IMO, affordability is in the sweet spot in many places in NZ right now, hence my recommendation for FHBs to get in while the market is favourable.
Id wait and see if speculand will have to start paying 1.75% per year before Id leap in. Their whole mindset has been cap gains and tax avoidance. If speculand is topping up, having capital loss and then have the possibility of actually paying meaningful tax imagine the panic. Banks would have to start margin calls as house prices for take a sharp leg down. Why miss that Opportunity.
If I was in the market id wait and see what the election brings. Status quo or... specu panic.
You must be kidding. Assuming we are 10% off the bottom (which is conservative by any measure) that's $80k for the median house. A full year's worth of income for a highly paid professional
Yes it's worth timing the bottom
It's just that it's not worth for you that buyers time the bottom if you're in the real estate industry
Over 10,000 first home buyers in the last 5 months would disagree with you on that, and are happily settling into their new home. If the right home comes up, don't put off that purchase because some dude on the internet said that you should wait for the "bottom". With that attitude you might just never become a home owner.
I'd argue a mortgage is the long haul, and interest on an extra 5-10-30k is substantial across a 25year term. Much better to save on the startup cost as the savings compound. Could be the difference between paying the mortgage of 2 or 4 years earlier and the financial freedom later on is very much worth the diligence when offering in a buyers market.
Getting in because it's supposedly favourable is exactly trying to time the market..
Better advice is to get in if you want to, or don't.
I’m in the process of trying to get my boomer parents to phase out of their rental portfolio. I had always assumed my father was a savvy investor but the further I look under the hood it’s a case of simply being born in the right place and the right time and having the balls to keep buying. This formula eventually broke down in 2020 with many houses now selling well under what was paid and rental yield around 2.5%
Agreed. Most I have talked to cant spell yield, and the successful ones that can converted to commercial investments.
Most profit I see in the industry is:
Buy house on reasonable section then either;
- Crane the house to the back onto new piles, subdivide and build another place on the front or
- Demo the house and build blocks of smaller flats to make the rental yield work.
Have also seen the likes of a house mid section and two flats built in front and behind it to be rented.
The classic doer upper is a dead horse unless you have friends in the trades or trade knowledge and the time to do it yourself, however time with an empty property is time you are paying another mortgage so it doesn't stack as easily now.
Don't disagree. The squeeze here is the cost of consent and construction is much higher than many think especially if your "developing for the first time" with a how hard can it be attitude. Requires much lower land prices to stack up. No surprise that this requires a direct attack on the fabled tax free capital gains train and a seller that honest about what their specubox is "not worth".
You're basing a lot of your views on what you've witnessed in the last four years. The fact is, a housing bubble occured during covid where interest rates were held at stupidly low levels with few lending restrcitions. The cost of debt was almost free so people went crazy buying up large. The last 4 years has basically seen a slow, steady deflation of that bubble (both in nominal and real terms). Assuming your parents have relatively low levels of debt, their rentals will fund their retirement while their investment (in the long term) will act as a solid inflation hedge.
Oh don’t get me wrong. It has been a great investment from the 1970s through til 2020. Tax free capital gains, and minimal rental property regulation. This 50 year cycle will never be repeated
Market is pretty much saying ‘don’t be quick’. Ie take your time and make a rational decision based upon cash flows and the possibility of future higher interest rates and little or no capital gains in the near future (in my view it could be 10 years or more before we see any notable price growth as from a cash flow perspective prices are maxed out and there is a supply demand imbalance - the opposite conditions of the 2000 - 2020 time frame that saw prices rise so much).
Latest poll has TOP at 6% aka king maker territory.
Speculords better starts reading up on actually paying tax. 1.75% coming to an election near you.
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