ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH

The number of new properties being listed for sale plunged for a second month in a row in January as nervous sellers stay out of the housing market.

Those selling were dropping their prices, with properties on average fetching about $55,000 below the original asking price, Realestate.co.nz’s January NZ Property Report says.

Only 8300 properties came on the market in January – the lowest number in five years.

Wellington kitchen joiner Bruce Kerr said he was forced to sell his 10-year old Tirohanga house for about $60,000 under the asking price after receiving just two offers in nine months.

The house with harbour and valley views finally sold in November for $563,000.

Mr Kerr concedes that he had underestimated the size of the market’s fall. “In hindsight, we probably should have priced it for less at the start of the marketing.”

He had built four homes in the past 20 years and it was the first to stick on the market without selling. “The buyers were extremely picky and they just won’t commit.”

The 645 new listings in the Wellington region were down 14 per cent on a year ago. The average asking price of $427,237 was 4 per cent below November.

Realestate.co.nz chief executive Alistair Helm said while new listings were “clearly drying up” there was evidence that buyer interest was higher now than it had been for a long time.

More than 2 million visits to all real estate websites were recorded in January – up 25 per cent on the same time last year – according to research company Nielsen Online.

“If the number of new listings drops any further it will be somewhat troubling for the market,” Mr Helm said.

The average asking price for newly listed properties nationwide was also down more than $9000 in January to $406,525.

Current asking prices were 5.6 per cent below the peak of the market in October 2007.

“The glut of unsold houses has eased even further, and prices are more realistic,” Mr Helm said.

The Wellington market was considered “fairly balanced”, with the equivalent of 23 weeks of house sales available compared to the long-term average of 22 weeks, the report says.

– The Dominion Post

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