JONO GALUSZKA
Slowly increasing house prices and a lack of new property listings are good news for those planning to sell property, industry figures show.
The average asking price for a property in the Manawatu-Whanganui region, which includes Horowhenua, was just over $279,000 in December – an increase of 3.7 per cent over the past three months, the latest NZ Property report says.
There were 413 new listings in December 2011, down by 8 per cent on the same month in 2010.
The report is produced by industry website realestate.co.nz, which is run by the Real Estate Institute and six major real estate companies.
While the latest figures show the market is steady, they point towards it being tilted in favour of sellers, the report says.
“As we have seen over the past few months, the tightening market is continuing to clearly favour sellers,” said realestate.co.nz chief executive Alistair Helm.
While December was usually quieter for new listings, it was good to see sales looking strong heading into the new year, Mr Helm said.
However, having new listings dropping for an extended period would not mean things would continue to be favourable for sellers.
“New listings are one of the clearest indicators of the health of the property market. The more new listings there are, the more fresh choices there are for buyers, which produces a less stagnant market.”
However, real estate agents spoken to by the Manawatu Standard said they felt it was not necessarily a sellers’ market.
Kevin Boniface, of Ray White Real Estate, said it took two parties to make a sale and that meant the price had to be right.
Mr Boniface said lower-end properties were more attractive at present because of the tough economic climate.
“I believe that we’ve had a couple of tough years but … it can only get better,” he said.
Professionals principal Max Vertongen said from his company’s perspective, the number of listings was not low.
“We’re listing and selling a lot of property at the moment,” he said.
“If the properties are listed at the right price, then they sell.”
Nationally, the average asking price was about $420,000, a 1 per cent increase on the previous year.
– © Fairfax NZ News
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