According to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, although prices are rising in New Zealand, properties are sitting on the market for longer.
The monthly figures from the REINZ show median house prices for New Zealand rose 6.9 per cent in February to $530,000, up from $496,000 at the same time last year.
It was Auckland holding those figures back, the overheated market appears to be slowing and the centre saw much more timid growth compared to the rest of the country, a 3.7 per cent to $858,000 from the same time last year, and growth of 4.6 per cent month-on-month.
Another sign of cooling in Auckland, the media number of days to sell a property took a jump to 49 days, an increase of six days on February last year (43 days). This now means Auckland is experiencing the longest time to sell a property in nine years.
“Auckland’s median price, while continuing to slowly creep upwards, is showing signs of moderated growth. This is far more positive for the region as we know double-digit increases are not sustainable in the long term,” said Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at REINZ.
It was still positive news for volumes, the number of properties sold across New Zealand increased by 1.2 per cent on last year, and the volumes in Auckland were up by 2 per cent from February 2017.
One of the biggest movers across the country was the West Coast region – sales jumped by 50 per cent from February 2017 with 45 sales compared to 30 and the highest number of properties sold since May 2012.
“In February, nine out of 16 regions saw an increase in the number of properties sold, pointing to strong regional growth. Nelson saw the highest number of properties sold in nearly 11 years,” said Norwell.
There was a slight drop in auctions though, suggesting a cooler market than this time last year. 12 per cent of all sales across the country went under the hammer in February – 756 properties. This is down from February 2017, when 15 per cent of properties were sold via auction.
