By Laura Frykberg

Home buyers have less to choose from this summer, with the number of houses for sale taking a dive in December.

The shortage is most acute in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, but the competition could be good news for sellers.

There were half as many properties listed in Wellington for sale in December as in November, and experts say that could start to favour the sellers.

“When there isn’t enough property on the market they’re starting to be quite competitive with each other, and that can drive prices up,” says Alistair Helm of realestate.co.nz.

So far that’s not happening, with the New Zealand property report showing that asking prices nationally have actually dropped slightly.

It also found the number of houses listed for sale around the country in December was 35 percent down on November, and the number of houses for sale for the whole of 2011 was down 10 percent on 2010.

The biggest drop in listings in December was in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, and while most property agents 3 News spoke to haven’t felt the direct affects on their businesses, some say the market has been slowing down for some time

“If you benchmark it with the good days of 2007, the market is slow in volume terms,” says Harcourts Wellington managing director Marty Scott.

The number of listings has fallen 30 percent since the market peak, but Mr Helm says having fewer options hasn’t put people off buying a home, and a lack of apartments for sale could prove more worrying.  

“The apartment market is tight and probably compounded by a lack of new builds, so that market could be under pressure in 2012 if investors are back in the market looking for apartments.”

But for the short term, getting more properties on sale is the biggest priority.

3 News