JAZIAL CROSSLEY
While the average asking price for houses on the market rose to a new high last month, actual selling prices are increasing at a much more modest rate.
The latest data from property listings website Realestate.co.nz shows the average price vendors listed their homes at rose 8.8 per cent nationally in February from January.
Yet according to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data, the average sale price for residential properties nationwide was flat in January from a month earlier, and in December the average amount houses sold for nationally actually reduced by 3.4 per cent.
The rise in listing prices would appear to indicate vendor confidence is improving.
In Auckland where the market has been strong with high demand and limited supply especially for city fringe homes, the average asking price rose 2.6 per cent last month to $554,094 from January.
In Wellington there was a slight lift in the average listing price, at $450,232 on average. Meanwhile Canterbury homeowners asked for 1 per cent more last month than in January on average at $376,733.
In Nelson, asking prices shot up 15.3 per cent in February from a month earlier to an average of $436,322. Marlborough asking prices rose 5 per cent on average to $385,760.
However local real estate agents are suspicious of figures showing large leaps in average asking prices.
Because of the way the data is analysed, having several more high end properties on the market in one month could skew the figures upwards.
Mark Stevenson First National Real Estate’s Blenheim director, Owen Norrish, is a 22-year veteran of the industry.
He had not seen any consistent lift in asking prices but there was an increase in overall activity, he said.
“We are certainly seeing more listings come to the market particularly in the last month – which then raises the questions of if there are more listings on the market, are there buyers for those listings?
“Because if there are that’s great, but if we go into a situation where we find we have a surplus of listings and there is still only the same number of buyers in the market then any desire to achieve a higher price may not be achievable.”
Around the Taupo and Rotorua regions, people putting their house up for sale became much more ambitious in their average asking price with a 7.7 per cent rise last month to $398,430.
Yet in the Hawkes Bay the average asking price for a house fell 4.1 per cent to $320,003.
Taranaki home owners looking to sell asked for 7.3 per cent less when marketing their houses, at an average asking price of $286,193, while West Coast houses were listed at 8.4 per cent less than last month at $276,233 on average.
Harcourts West Coast owner Richard Day said the market in his area was relatively stable.
“We don’t seem to be affected by all this rhetoric, there’s just too much talk about property by people who just don’t know anything about it to be perfectly honest,” Day said.
– © Fairfax NZ News
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“We don’t seem to be affected by all this rhetoric, there’s just too much talk about property by people who just don’t know anything about it to be perfectly honest,”
That would be about 90% of NZ real estate agents then, in my experience.
George, #33. Contrary to your belief that banks will loan to anyone, they won’t. We found two banks that would lend to us. All others required a 20% deposit for a first mortgage. We are going with Kiwibank who we bank with anyway and the other bank that does a 80% and just over loan is westpac. With less than 20% deposit you get charged a low equity fee/lenders mortgage insurance which is criminal. This can be well over 10K depending on your deposit. Of course , if you had that money you would put it into a deposit! We have struggled to get $40K deposit and that is with family help. Given that most households are struggling with the cost of living and unmatched wages this makes for a very profitable time for the banks, as that fee gets added to the mortgage and as well as the fee you are paying interest on it too. Just check out the headlines in the last week about record profits. Banks are charging their customers ridiculous sums despite unregulated banks being the main reason for our global economic crisis.
@ willie#28 …… get the violins out for this guy.
don’t be jelous of those who can afford to buy up several properties while the prices are so low! We’ve done this since the crash in 2008 and I don’t care what they are worth now, in 5 years or ten, because we can afford to pay for them until then and in 20-30 years we’ll be rich, rich I tell you 🙂
@johnnyrotten #29 “@ George – just keep waiting and you’ll miss out. If you are looking in certain popular areas, then market fluctuations will never beat out the long line of people who have got the finance to get on the ladder.”
I doubt I’ll “miss out”… that’s already happened once when I made the foolish mistake to pay back my student loan in 2003 (on which I was still paying 7% interest) instead of buying a house….. thanks Auntie Helen!
That’s the thing though, at the moment interest rates are low and banks are lending to anyone with more than a couple of grand in the bank, so EVERYONE has the finance to get on the ladder…. hence the clamour from everyone to buy a house and why estate agents have far more buyers than sellers. The REINZ have managed to convince people that it’s a good time to buy because there’s easy, cheap money and houses are on the rise again…. they fail to mention that it’s a perfect storm and the market is full of people who have gotten into the market comfortably at 5.5% but when their floating rate hits 7%, they’re not going to be able to meet repayments without sacrificing essentials.
One thing’s for sure, the property prices aren’t going up in a hurry, as much as the REINZ would like, nobody’s got any money, salaries are going nowhere and our dollar is refusing to dip (making our property increasingly unattractive to foreign buyers and new immigrants). The banks can’t and won’t lend any more, any cheaper than they are now so what we’re seeing currently is literally as good as it gets…. and it won’t last.
@ Willy
Stop being such a sooky bubba, your entitled attitude is the problem in NZ….
PS you’re behind in your rent!
#23 – You hit the nail on the head. This is absolutely non-news. Asking prices are invariably set by the agents. At the moment they are short on decent listings (volume of sales would be a more interesting and ‘real’ story) and are happy to ‘buy’ listings with promises of getting the best price well above other agents.
I think the Capital Gains might fix mum and dad property investors like #20 if it ever goes ahead. People like you are no better than banks i hope in 3 years your 310,000 house is worth 210,000 that might take you out of the clouds.
@ Willy
Don’t blame other people for things you can’t afford. If I had the money, I’d be doing the same thing. Its a good investment right now.
Supply and Demand people! If you are selling a house in the middle of nowhere (ie not in Auckland or Wellington) then prepare to be patient and have to negotiate. If you are buying in the big smoke then so are a lot of other people and so top dollar wins. Sellers that do not have to sell urgently won’t unless there is some sort of capital gain on what they paid for it. And that also pushes prices up.
@ George – just keep waiting and you’ll miss out. If you are looking in certain popular areas, then market fluctuations will never beat out the long line of people who have got the finance to get on the ladder.