The housing market is heading into the summer selling season with a significant oversupply of unsold stock.
Property website Realestate.co.nz reported receiving 9466 new listings in September, up from 8326 in August (+13.7%), signalling the start the spring/summer selling season.
September's new listing numbers were little changed from a year ago, up just 0.8% compared to September last year.
However, the total amount of stock for sale on the website has had a much more dramatic increase, with 34,001 residential properties available for sale on the website at the end of September, up 10.7% on September last year.
That puts total stock for sale on the website at its highest level in the month of September since 2014, suggesting many properties are struggling to find a buyer and are sitting on the market for longer.
However, advertised asking prices on the website remained flat overall compared to a year ago, although there were significant regional differences.
The national average (non-seasonally adjusted) asking price on the website in September was $845,142, down by just $1892 (-0.2%) compared to September last year.
The biggest annual price decline occurred in Nelson & Bays -$74,926, followed by Wairarapa -$66,597, Northland -$40,325, Auckland -$25,865, Waikato -$25,787, Bay of Plenty -$19,721, Wellington Region -$16,334 Hawke's Bay -$13,074 and Taranaki -$9952.
There were also some significant annual increases in the average asking price, with the biggest gain of $82,787 occurring in Gisborne, followed by Central Otago/Lakes $74,654, Marlborough $68,225, Southland $31,411, Otago $31,387, Coromandel $12,397, Canterbury $9477, West Coast $8516, Central North Island $4817 and Manawatu/Whanganui $1101.
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