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NZ Property Report – October 2011

Posted on: November 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The October 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of October. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – October 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.5MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – October 2011

The property market continues to show signs of confidence and heightened activity as compared to the past few years. The confidence amongst sellers bringing their properties onto the market has pushed up the truncated mean asking price to a new high of $434,161 – the highest level since the collection of data began in 2007. This rise in asking price was noticeable right across the country, with Auckland pushing a new high of $568,778.

However the volume of new listings shows a slightly different picture with an 11% seasonally adjusted decline which indicates that there is still some hesitation within property owners to bring their property onto the market. The month of October tends to see a big lift from September to satisfy the spring surge in demand; this year the increase was not so significant. This would ordinarily lead to some further tightening in the available stock of property on the market but recent sales which have not continued the year-on-year rises seen through the winter months have resulted in a rise in the inventory of unsold properties on the market. These inventory levels are still in the main below the long term average, but are edging up from the lows of 2 months ago.

The next data for November will be interesting to review as to the final flush of new listings coming onto the market in Spring – November is traditionally one of the biggest listings months of the year. Last year that total was close to 13,000 – that at a time when inventory was considerably higher than today.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in October rose again for the 3rd month in a row to $434,161 from $425,565. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price actually slipped 0.4% in the month indicating that whilst expectations are rising the rate of increase is not as high as seasonal factors would expect.

The long term trend as seen in the chart has been a steady increase in asking price over the past 3 years – the seasonal trend each year tends to see asking prices rise through from mid winter to October before falling back.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in October rose only slightly, bucking seasonal trends. A total of 11,312 new listings came onto the market representing a 5% year-on-year decline; on a seasonally adjusted basis the fall was a more significant 10.7%.

On a 12 month moving total basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 124,503 as compared 141,139 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 12%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of October rose again. At the end of the month there were 48,597 houses, apartments and lifestyle properties on the market up from 46,299 in September and down from 52,043 a year ago. This current level of inventory represents 38.5 weeks of equivalent sales.

The trend as show in the adjacent chart is showing a small incline as the market stabilises once again.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The national truncated mean asking price expectation among sellers rose to a new peak in October of $434,161. This exceeds the prior peaks of $429,249 in April of this year; and $429,033 from back in October 2007.

Across the 19 regions the signal was in all but 2 that price expectations are rising. The exceptions were the Central / Otago Queenstown Lakes region were prices fell by 11% on a comparison with recent 3 months average to $498,436 and the Central North Island region which was down 3.5% to $344,669. In the case of the Queenstown region this latest price is low as judged on a long term basis with an all time high in July 2007 of $668,973 and a low of $479,699 in Feb 2009.

There were 7 regions where asking prices rose above 5% on a comparable basis to the past 3 months, with a further 8 regions with an increase of between 1% and 5%.

Regional Summary – Listings

The flow of new listings onto the market has been sporadic this year. From shortages in the Autumn and Winter months to then seeing an early surge in late Winter and early Spring. The latest month of October – traditionally a strong month for listings saw a flatter performance.

Nationally the year-on-year comparison was down 5%. Across the country there were 10 of the 19 regions reporting falls in listings greater than the national average. Within this group extremely low levels of listings were seen in the Central North Island (-36%) Hawkes Bay (-38%) and Otago (-30%), a clutch of 4 regions (Gisborne, Wairarapa, Marlborough and the West Coast) all saw 19% falls.

Against these falls Northland saw a massive rise of 31% to 622 new listings, with 4 other regions reporting rises in new listings over 5%.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The inventory of unsold homes on the market crept up again this month to 38 weeks, still below the long term average of 41 weeks leading to the assessment that the market is in the main favouring sellers.

Across the country there were 5 regions which are certainly in a shortage of listings situation of which Canterbury and Auckland are the most significant. The former region not having seen this level of inventory for 2 years.

There are however 3 regions (Marlborough, Taranaki and Gisborne) were the market is certainly favouring buyers with high levels of inventory set against long term average.

The remaining 9 regions are balanced between buyer and sellers with a slight leaning in favour of sellers. The key factor affecting the future trend will be the extent of property sales over the months of October and November as to whether the trend of inventory keep edging up to the long term average or plateaus.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property listings across the country rose in October by 14% as compared to September; when judged on a seasonally adjusted basis the performance showed an increase of 3%. There were 998 new listings added in the month with a truncated mean asking price of $609,544 which was up 8% on the recent 3 month average. Measured against October last year the asking price is up 4%. It certainly would look as though lifestyle properties are coming back onto the market after a quiet period. On a 12 month moving average basis total new listings of lifestyle properties are down 12% at 10,847.

Apartments

New apartment listings fell again last month from September and the high of August. A total of 446 new apartment listings came onto the market. The truncated mean asking price at $363,115 was down 3% on the prior month and 2% up on a year ago. Nationally over the past 12 months the level of new listings of apartments have fallen 15% as compared to the prior 12 month period the prior year – a total of 5,720 new apartments have come onto the market in the last 12 month period.

In the Auckland apartment market, which represents over 60% of the total market there were just 280 new listings which represented an 20% seasonally adjusted decline. In terms of asking price, the truncated mean in October was $345,321 up 6% as compared to the recent 3 month average.

Property Price Index

Comparing the sale price of properties across the country to the asking price expectation is not a perfect comparison; however the trends tend to align. The benefit is that the data for asking price is of the market today, whilst the selling price is reflective of the market active between 4 and 6 weeks ago. The latest comparison is highlighted below:

Realestate.co.nz data is compiled from asking prices of new residential listings as they come onto the market via subscribers to the realestate.co.nz website. The Realestate.co.nz website currently has over 95% of all licensed real estate offices subscribing and providing all of their listings onto the website. The asking price is presented as a truncated mean price at a 10% interval.

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median sales price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The monthly asking price for new listings presented in this report utilises the measure of ‘truncated mean’. This measure is judged to be a more accurate measure of the market price than average price as it statistically removes the extremes that exist within any property market that can so easily introduce a skew to traditional average price figures.

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,000 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics, which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 11,312 new listings in the month of October, a total of 170 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The land area of the property defines the categorisation of Lifestyle property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

Realestate.co.nz is the official website company of the real estate industry of New Zealand, it is an industry owned web business providing online marketing services to the real estate industry. The shareholders in the business comprise the REINZ (50%) and six of the largest real estate companies (50%).

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

Realestate.co.nz is the heart of the business and is focused to the residential property market. It features the most comprehensive selection of property for sale and rent across NZ. The website attracts a significant monthly audience of over 400,000 unique browsers, with over 110,000 of those visiting from countries outside of NZ.

nzFarms is a specialist website presenting the most comprehensive selection of farms and agricultural businesses on the market across NZ. At this time it features around 5,000 listings for all types of farms and agricultural land as well as over 11,000 lifestyle properties.

Prime Commercial is a specialist website presenting the most comprehensive selection of commercial property for purchase or lease on the market across NZ. At this time it features over 27,000 listings for all types of properties – retail, commercial, industrial and investment properties.

Prime Business is a specialist website presenting the most comprehensive selection of businesses for sale on the market across NZ. At this time it features over 4,300 listings for all types of businesses – retail, tourism, wholesale as well as franchise opportunities.

Zoodle is a specialist property information website providing very detailed data on all residential properties in NZ. The database comprises over 1.6m properties with detailed specifications, map and local amenities. The site provides online reports for free and for purchase covering valuation and legal information to greatly assist the needs of property buyers and sellers.

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 110,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,000 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for October 2011 can be downloaded here (1.5MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for November 2011 will be published on this website on Thursday 1st December 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, Auckland, inventory of property on the market, inventory of unsold houses, listings, Property report

NZ Property Report – September 2011

Posted on: October 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The September 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of September. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – September 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.5MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – September 2011

The property has now fully entered its traditional spring period; an active time with new listings appearing as the weather improves. This year the two uncertain variables of the Rugby World Cup and the forthcoming election certainly do not appear to be affecting the supply side of the market.

New listings continued to come onto the market – by no means a flood, but much in line with seasonal trends. The current rate of sale of properties has been growing steadily over the past 6 months and whilst in last couple of months this rate of sale has been at a higher rate than listings leading to a decline in inventory; during September this balance was redressed. As a consequence in the month of September the inventory of unsold houses rose slightly.

The key measure for the month is without doubt the asking price expectation, which rose again a significant $10,000 to $525,565. This is now 3.4% ahead of September last year and just 1% below the peak asking price set in April of this year.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in September rose significantly from $415,078 in August to $425,565. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price rose by 1.5% in the month indicating that there is an emerging confidence amongst sellers of stronger prices.

There is a seasonal trend that sees asking price rise in the early spring each year, this year that seasonal rise is somewhat more significant and could result in a new peak of asking price.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in September rose again in line with seasonal trends. A total of 11,117 new listings came onto the market representing a 5% year-on-year increase; on a seasonally adjusted basis the rise was a more modest 0.3%.

On a 12 month moving total basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 124,102 as compared 142,778 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 12%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of September rose slightly. At the end of the month there were 46,299 houses, apartments and lifestyle properties on the market up from 44,689 in August and down from 51,035 a year ago. This current level of inventory represents 37.2 weeks of equivalent sales.

From the chart the decline in inventory has been halted and a plateau is emerging.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The national asking price expectation rose significantly in September due to seasonal factors. Across the country this trend was seen in 17 of the 19 regions reporting a rise in the truncated mean asking price as compared to the recent 3 month average. The most significant rises were seen in the Auckland, Manawatu/ Wanganui, Canterbury and the West Coast all of which exceeded 5% growth as compared to recent 3 month average.

There were just 2 regions which experienced falls in asking price, Marllborough down 1.6% and Southland down a significant 7.9%.

Regional Summary – Listings

Listings flow was strong in September with 12 of the 19 regions seeing rises.

Significant rises were seen on the West Coast and in the Marlborough region. By contrast just 4 regions saw comparable year-on-year falls in new listings. Northland saw a significant 22% fall as compared to last year.

Regional Summary – Inventory

Whilst the overall state of the property market still favours sellers, the trend of the past month has seen some easing in some regions as new listing levels have outpaced sales. There are still 11 of the 19 regions of the country that have an inventory measured as weeks of equivalent sales below the long term average.

The 3 key metro areas of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are all sitting with inventory well below long term average and have seen very active local pockets of property buying as listings in short supply have driven some active buyer activity.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property listings across the country rose in September by 15% as compared to August when judged on a seasonally adjusted basis the performance showed a 4% decline. There were 878 new listings added in the month with a truncated mean asking price of $599,813 which was up 10% on the recent 3 month average. Measured against September last year the asking price is up 14%.

Apartments

New apartment listings returned to a more normal level last month from the peak level in August. A total of 492 new apartment listings came onto the market. The truncated mean asking price at $372,747 was up 13% on the prior month and 3% up on a year ago.

In the Auckland apartment market, which represents over 60% of the total market there were just 299 new listings which represented an 31% seasonally adjusted decline. In terms of asking price, the truncated mean in September was $336,707 up from the prior month record low of $302,425.

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

In analysing the details of the 11,117 new listings in the month of September, a total of 169 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The land area of the property defines the categorisation of Lifestyle property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The full NZ Property Report for September 2011 can be downloaded here (1.0MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for October 2011 will be published on this website on Tuesday 1st November 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, Auckland, inventory of unsold houses, listings, median price, Property report

NZ Property Report – August 2011

Posted on: September 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The August 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of August. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – August 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.0MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – August 2011

The property market is now showing all the signs of gearing up for a much stronger Spring season than has been seen for a number of years. The market is very firmly parked as a sellers market, with inventory levels at lows not seen since 2009. At that time, the low inventory was a result of a degree of a buy-up of distressed properties being sold at attractive prices as a result of the global economic recession. This time around, property sales have been steadily rising whilst listing have been in relative short supply.

Comparing the situation today with just 6 months ago highlights this – back in February the average number of property sales over the recent 3 months was 4,256. In July it had risen by 24% to 5,281. At the same time the number of properties on the market has fallen 15%. Traditionally the month of September shows the start of the Spring season, this year we appear to have seen an earlier rush, potentially as a function of greater economic confidence matched to attractive interest rates or possibly a potential impact of the Rugby World Cup.

The rise in asking price expectation is party explained by a seasonal uplift associated with increase in listing numbers however underlying this and as seen in the charted trend of the past 3 years there is a steady, albeit slow rise in the expected listings price for new properties coming onto the market. This recent asking price expectation is still some 3% below the recent peak of asking price back in April, however the trend is certainly upwards.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in August rose significantly from $403,474 in July to $415,0784. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price rose by 2.7% in the month indicating that there is an emerging confidence amongst sellers of stronger prices.

There is a seasonal trend that sees asking price rise in the August month each year, this year that seasonal rise is somewhat more significant.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in August rose for the first time since March. A total of 10,120 new listings came onto the market representing a 3% year-on-year increase and a more significant 9% rise on a seasonally adjusted basis.

On a 12 month moving total basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 124,544 as compared 144,893 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 14%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of August continued to fall from prior months. At the end of there were 44,689 houses, apartments and lifestyle properties on the market down from 45,674 in July and down from 50,138 a year ago. This current level of inventory represents 36.7 weeks of equivalent sales.

From the chart the rate of decline in listings appears to be lessening, however given the rise in sales recently it is not expected that inventory levels will rise in the coming month.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The national asking price expectation picked up in August as expected due to seasonal factors. Across the country this trend was seen in 12 of the 19 regions reporting a rise in the truncated mean asking price as compared to the recent 3 month average. The most significant rises were seen in the Central North Island and the Taranaki regions, up 7.5% and 8.7% respectively. The main metropolitan regions of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury all saw very modest movements in asking price expectation of less than 1% indicating that whilst there is a sellers market environment property price appreciation is not rampant.

There were 3 regions which experienced significant asking price falls, Gisborne, Nelson and the Wiakato. The latter reporting the lowest asking price recorded going back over 4 years at $328,626.

Regional Summary – Listings

Listings has started to flow onto the market in the last month – making up for a succession of months when listings have been in short supply. The rise is most significant in those regions where the shortage became most acute a couple of months ago.

The three regions of Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato were the first to show a sellers market back in May and that message seems to have got through to property owners keen to move. They have acknowledged that there has been a strong rise in sales and a shortage of available properties on the market, and now seem to be confident to list their property.

Outside of these emerging regions the remainder of the 19 regions have seen a continuing low level of new listings coming onto the market, potentially increasing the sellers market situation as the spring pick up in sales starts.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The NZ property market is now firmly anchored in a sellers market. The shortage of new listings over the past 6 months, matched to a rise in sales has driven inventory level of unsold houses well below long term average.

Across the country there are now only 2 regions out of 19 that remain a buyer’s market – both small regions of Gisborne and Wairarapa. In contrast there are 9 regions that where inventory levels are significantly below long term average.

Across the country by region, the Auckland region at 24.2 weeks is currently experiencing the lowest inventory for over 4 years; Wellington at 19.4 weeks is the lowest inventory for 18 months, and in addition Nelson at 26.3 weeks is lowest for 2 years.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property listings across the country rose in August with a 22% seasonally adjusted increase to 760 listings. As compared to last year the total still shows a 10% decline. Over the past 12 months there have been 11,061 new lifestyle property listings brought to the market down 12%.

In terms of asking price expectation, the truncated mean in August was $565,753 which was up 9% on a seasonally adjusted basis and up 2% on August last year.

Apartments

New apartment listings shot up in August with 629 new listings coming onto the market. This represents a 51% seasonally adjusted increase and the highest level for over 18 months. At the same time the asking price expectation fell by 12% on a seasonally adjusted basis to $328,777.

In the Auckland apartment market, which represents over 60% of the total market there were 462 new listings which represented an 81% seasonally adjusted increase. In terms of asking price, the truncated mean in August was $302,425. This asking price is down 11% on a seasonally adjusted basis and is the lowest asking price since data reporting began at the start of 2007

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

In analysing the details of the 10,120 new listings in the month of August, a total of 128 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The land area of the property defines the categorisation of Lifestyle property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The full NZ Property Report for August 2011 can be downloaded here (1.0MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for September 2011 will be published on this website on Saturday 1st October 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, Auckland, inventory of property on the market, inventory of unsold houses, listings, Property prices, Property report

NZ Property Report – July 2011

Posted on: August 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The July 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of July. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – July 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.0MB) and distribution. Alternatively watch the video below for a presentation of this month’s report.

Summary of the market – July 2011

The property market is edging toward the Spring period – a time traditionally when more buyer activity appears at open homes and new properties appear on the market. This year unlike the past couple sees a challenging set of circumstances. New listings are in short supply, not just in the major cities but now right around the country. Matched to this and as a function of this and the upturn in sales the level of inventory of unsold property on the market is edging down – nationally below the long-term average. This low level of supply, if not met by a rise in supply in the short term could result in either or both price pressure upwards or disillusioned buyers exiting the market.

This trend of falling inventory off the back of rising sales and shortages of new listings began a couple of months ago in Auckland and then spread out through the major metropolitan areas into provincial NZ. Auckland remains the epicenter of this trend and now sees a situation where available inventory of property for sale is the lowest seen since this recent property malaise began back in 2007. Auckland currently has just over 5½ months of available inventory based on the recent rate of sale, not since September 2007 has the region seen this level – the highest level of inventory was recorded in June 2008 at just over 13 months.

Whilst shortage of supply matched to low inventory and rising sales usually sees pressure on prices, the asking price for July showed what is a traditional fall – seasonally adjusted it was down 1.6% indicating that sellers new to the market are not being wildly optimistic in their expectations – potentially keener to sell quickly than inflate expectations.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in July fell significantly from $415,053 in June to $403,474. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price fell 1.6% in the month indicating a continued degree of caution amongst sellers.

The overall trend of the past 2 years continues to show a slow but steady strength in asking price expectation.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in July fell again to 8,966. This represented a 15% year-on-year decline but a marginal 1% seasonally adjusted rise from June.

On a 12 month moving basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 124,228 as compared 145,733 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 15%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of July continued to fall from prior months. July reported 45,674 down from 47,738 in June and 48,352 in May.

The current inventory is now well below the long term average. The winter season traditionally sees a reduction in new listings, this when seen against a strengthening of sale over the past 3 months is likely to see inventory levels continue to fall as Spring approaches.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The national asking price expectation fell in July by 3.8% vs the recent 3 month average, this performance was mirrored across the regions with 14 regions showing a fall of which 4 reported asking price falls of more than 5%.

Countering this trend were 5 regions showing strength in asking price growth the most significant region being the Central Otago Lakes region including the key center of Queenstown, this saw a 7.4% rise in asking price to $581,666 – this is 10% up on a seasonally adjusted basis which when reviewed against the shortage of listings and low inventory would seem to highlight that the Queenstown property market is gathering pace again with recent 3 months sales volume up 26%.

Regional Summary – Listings

The dominant perspective for the 19 regions of the country is that in terms of new listings the market is definitely skewed to favour sellers. This month there are no regions reporting year-on-year growth in new listings.

There are 7 regions showing year-on-year falls of more than 20%, most notable in size are the Central Otago, Manawatu / Wanganaui and Coromandel. The latter being a region, which has seen a heavy weight of unsold inventory for many months, and has of late seen a significant improvement as these falls in new listings have taken effect.

Two regions saw record lows of new listings – Northland with 335 down from the previous record low of 352 from last month and Marlborough with 101 down from the previous low of 110 back in April 2009.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The NZ property market has markedly changed in the space of 4 months – in April of this year every one of the 19 regions showed an inventory well above long term average indicating that these regions as well as the national picture at 54 weeks of equivalent sales was stuck in a buyers market as it had been for well over 18 months.

Now just 4 months later the picture shows 9 regions as defined as sellers markets, just 4 as definite buyers markets and the remainder balanced markets.

The regions that are seeing the greatest pressure in inventory are the major regions of Auckland, Otago, Nelson, Otago Lakes and the Waikato. These 5 regions are all sitting with inventory well below long term average and based on recent listing shortages will see levels fall further heading into Spring.

Despite the national view there remains a number of regions which have inventory well above long-term average of which the Wairarapa and Northland feature strongly.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property listings across the country fell significantly in July to a new record low of just 628; this was below the prior low of 727 seen in January of this year. The Auckland region – one of the largest regions for lifestyle property recorded a low of 124, lower than the prior record from January 2010 of 153. Overall listings were down 25% year-on-year and down 10% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In terms of asking price the national truncated mean asking price at $520,109 was down 5% on a seasonally adjusted basis and down 8% as against recent 3-month average.

Apartments

Listings of apartments showed a 16% decrease on a seasonally adjusted basis, reversing what had been a strong June for new listings of apartments. A total of 443 new apartments came onto the market in the month. The truncated mean asking price for these new listings was $372,983, which was down 4.0% on the recent 3-month average, and up 4.3% as compared to July 2010.

In the Auckland apartment market, which represents over 60% of the market there were 295 new listings with an asking price of $340,344. The new listings shows a fall of 21% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and a 15% fall when judged on a year-on-year basis.

Property Price Index

Realestate.co.nz: data is compiled from asking prices of new residential listings as they come onto the market via subscribers to the realestate.co.nz website. The Realestate.co.nz website currently has over 95% of all licensed real estate offices subscribing and providing all of their listings onto the website. The asking price is presented as a truncated mean price at a 10% interval.

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,020 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

In analysing the details of the 8,966 new listings in the month of July, a total of 135 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The land area of the property defines the categorisation of Lifestyle property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,000 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for July 2011 can be downloaded here (1.0MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for August 2011 will be published on this website on Thursday 1st September 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, Auckland, inventory of property on the market, inventory of unsold houses, listings, Property report, Queenstown

NZ Property Report – June 2011

Posted on: July 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The June 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of May. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – June 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.0MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – June 2011

What began last month as an early trend towards a sellers market has taken on a faster pace through June. Nationally whilst the inventory levels hover just above the long-term average of 41 weeks, key regions of the country are now firmly set in a sellers market. This situation has the potential to be exacerbated by the traditional reluctance of property owners to list their homes through the winter period. During the winter, sales per month tend to drop by around 5% as against a normal month, however new listings tend to fall more significantly by up to 15% as compared to a normal month.

Heading into the winter period with a growing number of regions seeing inventory levels below long term average could well result in elevated buyer demand with a potential to see property price appreciation. Those regions are Auckland, Queenstown, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Otago.

Countering this potential for price appreciation is the fact that in June the asking price expectation of those new listings coming onto the market at $415,053 showed no change as compared to May and in fact represented a 2% fall in price as compared to the recent 3-month period.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in June rose very slightly from $414,308 in May to $415,053. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price rose just 0.8% in the month indicating a degree of caution amongst sellers.

The overall trend of the past 2 years continues to show a slow but steady strength in asking price expectation.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in June fell again to 9,111. This represented a 18% year on year decline but a 2% seasonally adjusted rise from May.

On a 12 month moving basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 125,848 as compared 145,920 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 14%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of June continued to fall from prior months. June reported 47,738 down from 48,352 in May and 50,398 in April.

The recent relative strength of sales as seen in March through to May has now stared to see a clearing of what has been a high level of unsold houses on the market over the past 18 months. Heading into Winter, a time of traditionally weaker listing will likely see this inventory level fall further in coming months.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The asking price, having fallen in May barely changed in June. Across the regions there is certainly some variances. A total of just 6 regions saw an increase in asking price expectations as compared to 13 showing falls.

The scale of some of these movements was significant, even outside of the smaller regions, which tend to exhibit large variances. Most noticeable were falls of greater than 5% in Wellington, the Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and Otago. The largest asking price rises of greater than 5% were seen in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel region, the latter still witnessing high inventory and as such is very much stuck in a buyers market. The biggest movement in asking price this month was seen in Southland with a 6.8% increase as compared to the recent 3-month average.

Regional Summary – Listings

The regional perspective of new listing is very clear this month with one solitary region showing a rise in new listings comparing June 2011 with a year earlier. The Central North Island as well as seeing a rise in new listings is experiencing a buyers market with inventory of unsold properties exceeding long term average.

The majority of regions (13 out of 19) saw double-digit falls of new listings on a year-on-year basis with the biggest falls seen in the West Coast, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Marlborough, Canterbury and Wiararapa.

Two regions in June reported the lowest levels of listings going back to Jan 2007, they were Northland with 352 listings and Wiararapa with 117 listings.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The levels of inventory of unsold homes on the market fell further in June. In the space of just 3 months the levels have fallen from significant highs to be very close to long term average for many regions of the country.

For 2 years the predominant look of the regional inventory map has signaled a buyers market. In June there were 7 regions on or below their long-term average for inventory of properties on the market.

The most significant regions experiencing this shift to a seller’s market are Auckland and Queenstown; now joined by the Bay of Plenty, the Waikato and Otago. Not far behind the regions of Nelson, Wellington, Canterbury and the West Coast all of which are edging to a turning point in the market with more balance between buyers and sellers.

That still leaves 9 regions, all of which are provincial NZ firmly in a buyers market with existing inventory well above long term average.

Lifestyle

The level of new listings of lifestyle property coming onto the market in June fell by 4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from May. A total of just 829 new properties were listed with a truncated mean asking price of $554,864. The asking price was down 1% as compared to the recent 3-month average, and down 3% as compared to prior year.

On a rolling 12-month average basis new listings are down 10.5% with 11,346 listed in the past 12 months compared to 12,679 last year.

Apartments

Listings of apartments showed a 21% increase on a seasonally adjusted basis as compared to May with 439 new apartments coming onto the market. The truncated mean asking price for these new listings was $397,747, which was up 4.0% on the recent 3-month average, and up 8.3% as compared to June 2010.

In the Auckland apartment market, which represents over 60% of the market there were 274 new listings with an asking price of $383,980. The new listings shows a rise of 17% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and a 3% rise when judged on a year-on-year basis.

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,020 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

In analysing the details of the 9,111 new listings in the month of June a total of 166 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The land area of the property defines the categorisation of Lifestyle property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,020 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for June 2011 can be downloaded here (1.0MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for July 2011 will be published on this website on Monday 1st August 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, inventory of property on the market, inventory of unsold houses, listings, median price, Property prices, Property report

NZ Property Report – May 2011

Posted on: June 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The May 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of May. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – May 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.0MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – May 2011

The prolonged sluggishness of new property listings, which has been evident for nearly 2 years, has at last seen a tip in the balance of the property market from favouring buyers to favouring sellers. At least that is now being seen in two of the major markets around the country – Auckland and Queenstown lakes.

The Auckland market which saw strong late summer property sales has now as a consequence of these sales matched to the slow flow of new listings, seen inventory levels below long term average. At the end of May the inventory of unsold houses on the market fell to 30 weeks as compared to the long term average of 34 weeks. The last time this level was seen was at the end of 2009.

The asking price expectation of the new listings coming onto the market in May fell back from the peak seen in April. Historically there is always an adjustment seen at this time of year. The seasonally adjusted asking price fell 2% nationally and that was reflected right across the regions indicating that the market still senses no significant property price inflation as yet with new-to-the-market vendors pricing to attract buyers who are still small in number across the regions.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in May fell significantly from $429,249 in April to $414,308 in May. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price fell just 2% in the month indicating a degree of uncertainty amongst sellers.

The overall trend of the past 2 years continues to show strength in asking price expectation.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in May fell to 9,898. This represented a 16% year on year decline but a 1% seasonally adjusted rise from April.

On a 12 month moving basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 127,843 as compared 144,375 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 12%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of May continued to fall from prior months. May reported 48,352 down from 50,398 in April and 51,980 in March.

The recent relative strength of sales as seen in March and April has now stared to see a clearing of what has been a high level of unsold houses on the market over the past 18 months. Heading into Winter, a time of traditionally weaker listing will likely see this inventory level fall further in coming months.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

After reaching a new peak of asking price in April the national asking price for new listings fell in May. This fall was reflected around the regions with 12 regions reporting falls and just 7 showing any increase. There is seasonal trend behind this which sees the asking prices for May fall significantly as compared to April, likely as a result of the market entering the winter period.

There were 5 regions showing declines of more than 5% in asking price with both Wellington and Queenstown Lakes among them, both of these regions are also showing low levels of inventory. This potentially points to a caution over the state of the market with no significant inflation expectation amongst vendors, new to the market.

Regional Summary – Listings

The continuing trend of new listings as has been the case for over a year is decline in number. Again the chart by region shows a overall trend towards a sellers market with only Marlborough and Central North Island bucking the trend to show year-on-year increases in listings.

Two regions in May recorded the lowest level of monthly listings stretching back 4 years – Northland and Otago.

The level of new listings in the Canterbury region continues to remain weak as a result of the earthquake. In May 1,188 new listings came onto the market, down 29% as compared to last year. Comparing the first 5 months of 2011 with 2010 the number of new listings in the region has fallen from 8,972 to 5,736 a fall of 36%.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The levels of inventory of unsold homes on the market changed markedly in May. For more than a year the predominant view has been that the property market is firmly stuck in a buyer’s market with inventory levels well above long term averages.

Starting in March and now accelerating through May the key markets of Auckland and now Queenstown Lakes are seeing the results of stronger sales matched with lower levels of new listings leading to these two markets now being viewed as seller’s markets.

Not far behind the regions of Otago, West Coast, Waikato and Bay of Plenty are edging to a turning point in the market with more balance between buyers and sellers.

That still leaves the remainder of provincial NZ firmly in a strong buyers market with 11 regions seeing existing inventory well above long term average.

Lifestyle

The level of new listings of lifestyle property coming onto the market in May fell by 12% on a seasonally adjusted basis from April. A total of just 844 new properties were listed with a truncated mean asking price of $567,575. The asking price was up 2% as compared to the recent 3 month average, and up 12% as compared to prior year.

On a rolling 12 month average basis new listings are down 8.6% with 11,462 listed in the past 12 months compared to 12,546 last year.

Apartments

Listings of apartments showed a 17% decline on a seasonally adjusted basis as compared to April with 406 new apartments coming onto the market. The truncated mean asking price for these new listings was $369,834, which was down 3.0% on the recent 3 month average, and down 2.1% as compared to May 2010.

In the Auckland apartment market which represents over 60% of the market there were 267 new listings with an asking price of $328,326. The new listings shows a decline of 20% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and a 27% decline when judged on a year-on-year basis.

Property Price Index

REINZ data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,020 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 9,898 new listings in the month of May a total of 98 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The categorisation of Lifestyle property is defined by the land area of the property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,020 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for May 2011 can be downloaded here (1.0MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for June 2011 will be published on this website on Friday 1st July 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, inventory of unsold houses, listings, new listings, Property prices, Property report

NZ Property Report – April 2011

Posted on: May 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The April 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of April. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – April 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.3MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – April 2011

The NZ Property market certainly is showing signs of renewed activity, far from the levels of the mid 2000’s the current activity is measured and very much centered on the Auckland region. Whilst in overall terms the level of inventory weighs heavy on all regions the levels of sales reported in March show that buyers are certainly back in the market and beginning to clear some of this high inventory.

By the nature of the way inventory is reported (actual stock divided by 3 month average sales) the very low levels of sales in January and February is in some way holding back the reporting of this trend of greater activity. It is likely that with the reporting of the April sales that the next inventory report for May will show a significant fall in inventory levels of unsold houses.

The market amongst sellers is certainly not showing any impact of inventory levels, as a function of such seller confidence the national truncated mean asking price has risen in April to a new record high of recorded stats going back to the start of 2007.

As a further lead indicator to the market, the levels of new listings continue to track well below prior year. In fact we have seen 10 consecutive months of falls in listings numbers year-on-year.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in April rose to establish a new peak at $429,249 up from $421,940 in March. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price rose 2% in the month indicating a continued confidence amongst sellers.

The trend of the past 2 years shows continued strength in asking price expectation.

New Listings

The level of new listings coming onto the market in April fell to 10,181 in April. This represented a 17% year on year decline and an 8% seasonally adjusted decline from March.

On a 12 month moving basis the number of new listings in the past year totals 129,678 as compared 142,635 for the same period a year ago – a fall of 9%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of April continued to fall from prior months. April reported 50,398 down from 51,980 in March and 52,672 in February.

This steady decline in the physical number of new listings is not being reflected in the representation of inventory as measured in rate of sales as the recent 3 month period (Jan – March 2011) contained two of the lowest sales months recorded.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The national asking price rising to a new peak at $429,249 was mirrored across the country as can be seen from the chart with a significant growth in all but 2 regions. The highest rising region was Otago which with a 12.5% increase to $298,817 has itself hit a new peak of asking price.

The Auckland market at $555,572 whilst not quite hitting the peak, continues to track at all time highs close to the peak set in December 2010 at $564,853. The April asking price was up 5% on April last year and showed a 1% seasonally adjusted rise from March.

Those regions that showed falls, Bay of Plenty with a 3% fall and the Central North Island with a 7% fall, both had seen strong asking prices through the latter part of 2010 and into early 2011.

Regional Summary – Listings

The picture for new listings across the country continues to show that there is weakness in bringing new properties to the market. There were 13 of the 19 regions that reported new listing down on prior year with 6 reporting falls of over 20%; both Coromandel and Southland over 40%. The former region has been suffering under a significant weight of inventory of unsold houses for many months.

In the main metro areas listings are low with the impact of the earthquake restricting new listings in Canterbury (down 32%), Wellington was weak with just 741 new listings, down 29% and Auckland down 17% with 3,325 new listings.

Two regions did see very strong growth in listings; of particular note was the Queenstown Lakes area which saw a raft of new listings including a large collection of apartments.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The regional map of inventory of unsold houses shows a very consistent picture of high inventory in all but the one region that of Auckland. This scale of inventory at levels well above long term average is very much a function of very low sales at the start of the year which despite the actual fall in properties on the market is making the evaluation of the market point to very high inventory based on rate of sale.

The Auckland market is very much on the boundary of moving from a buyer’s market to one favouring sellers. The Auckland market has seen a reduction of properties on the market from around 14,100 just before Christmas to currently 12,376.

Around the rest of the country the inventory levels reached new peaks in the Hawkes Bay, Manawatu/Wanganui, Northland, Otago and Southland.

Lifestyle

The level of new listings of lifestyle property coming onto the market in April fell just 1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from March. A total of 1,032 new properties were listed with a truncated mean asking price of $571,611. The asking price was up 5% as compared to the recent 3 month average, but up just 1% as compared to prior year.

On a rolling 12 month average basis new listings are down 4.5% with 11,764 listed in the past 12 months compared to 12,314 last year.

Apartments

Listings of apartments showed a 9% rise on a seasonally adjusted basis as compared to March with 452 new apartments coming onto the market. The truncated mean asking price for these new listings was $399,927 which was up 8.5% on the recent 3 month average, but down 4.1% as compared to April 2010.

In the Auckland apartment market which represents over 60% of the market there were 285 new listings with an asking price of $350,306. The new listings shows a rise of 24% on a seasonally adjusted basis, although when judged on a year-on-year basis they are down 22%.

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,020 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 10,181 new listings in the month of April a total of 127 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The categorisation of Lifestyle property is defined by the land area of the property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,020 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for April 2011 can be downloaded here (1.3MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for May 2011 will be published on this website on Wednesday 1st June 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, inventory of property on the market, new listings, property data, Property report

NZ Property Report – March 2011

Posted on: April 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The March 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of February. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – March 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.3MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – March 2011

Any analysis of the NZ property market for March would be incomplete without reference to the impact of the Christchurch earthquake. The Canterbury region is the second biggest property region representing around 15% of the market. In March the level of new listings in the region fell 36% compared to a year ago, whilst the country excluding Canterbury fell only 11%. Based on a representation of the national total it is likely that around 480 less properties were listed in the Canterbury region in the month than would have been anticipated at this time of year.

Nationally the rise in asking price was the most significant single piece of data from the overall report. The asking price nationally is now hovering close to all time highs and is particularly strong in the major cities. Auckland at $551,720 is up 1% as compared to prior month and prior year; with Wellington at $453,021 up 2.5% on last year and 1% from last month. Canterbury at this time shows no significant change in price in line with recent 3 month average.

The level of inventory of unsold homes on the market continues to grow, recording its 3rd consecutive month of rise to break through the psychological level of one year, reaching 53 weeks. Given this high level of inventory, matched to slow levels of new listings it is becoming clear that the high asking price is more likely to be the result of keen interest focused purely on new listings; leaving older listings somewhat “languishing on the shelf” at what could be unrealistic prices or presentation that needs refreshing to attract buyers.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings in March rose again to $421,940 up from $420,265 in February. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price rose 1% indicating a continued confidence amongst sellers.

The trend of the past 2 years shows continued strength in asking price expectation.

New Listings

The level of new listings whilst rising in March was still 15% down compared to March last year. The current 12 month moving average total shows 131,722 new listings down 6% as compared to the prior 12 month period. The market continues to remain quiet in terms of listings and sales as has been seen in the REINZ sales reports for the last few months with both January and February reporting record lows. February sales totaled 4,502.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of March actually fell from 52,672 in February to 51,980 in March. This represented the equivalent of 53.1 weeks of equivalent sales, as assessed on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The key driver of this rising inventory is more a reflection of somewhat lackluster sales than excessive new listings. The absolute level though at over a year of equivalent sales will continue to impact the market and maintain the “buyers-market” perspective.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

With a strong national asking price growth of 1.9% as compared to the recent 3 month average, the expectation would be to see a consistent trend across the country. The fact is that 11 regions of the 19 did post rises in asking price, however there were some significant falls. The majority of the falls were in provincial regions.

Both Wellington and Auckland saw asking price rise close to peak, with Wellington particularly strong with a 4.1% increase to come within $2,500 of the peak asking price indicating confidence in vendor expectations.

By contrast the situation in Northland and Marlborough, which both showed significant falls in asking prices taking those regions to record low asking price levels.

Regional Summary – Listings

Recent months has seen a consistent decline in listing numbers when judged on a year-on-year basis, this month of March shows some change.

Four regions posted an increase in new listings with Waikato the standout showing a 9% increase to 994 new listings, the highest level in over 3 years.

As previously noted the Canterbury region saw a 36% fall. Over the past 7 months since September a total of 8,558 new listings have been brought to the market across the region. This is down 30% from the 12,232 recorded in the same period in the prior year.

Wellington regions showed a strong performance with a 6% increase. This region has been active with increases consistently over recent months taking the 12 month average up 6% on the prior year.

Regional Summary – Inventory

A consistent picture of high inventory of unsold house on the market pervades the region map. There are pockets where levels are moderate, particularly in Bay of Plenty and Central North Island, however the remainder sit well above long term average.

Of the 19 regions a full 8 of them are now sitting at record high levels of inventory – Central Otago, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu / Wanganui, Nelson, Northland, Otago, Taranaki and the Wiakato.

In total provincial NZ which comprises all of the regions excluding the main centres of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury reached a record peak of inventory of 76.7 weeks which compares with 36.6 weeks in the metropolitan areas.

These record highs as noted earlier are as much a factor of slows sales, are clearly offering a broad range of options to buyers active in the market.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property performed fairly strongly in respect of new listings with a total of 1,096 coming onto the market in March up 17% from February and in line with March last year. The asking price expectation fell by 2% in the month from $552,591 to $542,975 which was down 8% as compared to March 2010.

Despite the overall levels in Canterbury lifestyle listings remained steady with 130 new listings as compared to 144 in March 2010, the reality would be that almost all of the lifestyle properties in the region would be well outside of the immediate vicinity of Christchurch city.

Apartments

Apartment listings grew in March but at 516 failed to reach the level of 613 seen a year ago. Based on a 12 month moving average volumes of apartment listings continue to fall with 6,216 in the most recent year down 9%. In Auckland the trend is down with 5% decline on a 12 month moving average basis. March saw 332 new apartment listings in Auckland down 8% from a year earlier.

The asking price expectation rose 4% in March from $365,150 to $378,494. This level though is down 3% as compared to a year ago and down 4% as compared to the recent 3 month average. Auckland apartment listings reflected a similar trend down 4% year-on-year.

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,020 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 12,247 new listings in the month of January a total of 156 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The categorisation of Lifestyle property is defined by the land area of the property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,020 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for March 2011 can be downloaded here (1.3MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for April 2011 will be published on this website on Sunday 1st May 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price expectation, inventory, new listings, NZ Property Report, unsold houses

NZ Property Report – February 2011

Posted on: March 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

The February 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of February. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

The February 2011 report covering the final month of summer shows an active level of new listings coming onto the market. The total of 11,395 is up 37% as compared to January, but down 20% as compared to February last year. The seasonally adjusted number of new listings for February shows a 9.5% increase. All of these numbers show that in the context of recent market activity the property market in NZ is somewhat more active, however when assessed over the recent couple of years the market continues to be weak and the recent 12 months is the lowest level of activity with just 133,883 new listings in the recent 12 months, down 3% as compared to the same period 12 months ago.

The expectation of vendors remains confident despite the low level of sales volume. The truncated mean asking price rose in February by 3.3% to $420,265. There is a traditional seasonal lift in asking price at this time of year and allowing for the seasonal adjustment the asking price actually fell slightly by 1.1% to $412,128. This February asking price of $420,265 does come within 2% of the peak of the market asking price from back in November 2007.

The inventory of unsold houses rose slightly in the month, having fallen for the past 3 months. The level of 48.9 weeks of equivalent sales still sits well above long term average at 40 weeks. The key factor for this continual high level of inventory is the weak sales volumes which with just 3,252 property sales in January, places the past 3 months of sales as amongst the lowest 3 month period on record with just 13,438 total sales.

In overall terms the NZ property market continues to turnover at a slow rate. The relative levels of inventory as matched to sales volumes is high indicating a buyers market. However the actual level of new listings continue low which is resulting in specific markets seeing a genuine shortage of listings which is stimulating price as a function of unsatisfied demand. This is most conspicuously seen in the major cities. Auckland especially is showing this with an asking price expectation which peaked in December and in February continues at high levels. Equally the level of new listings in the Auckland market is amongst the highest in the country with over 34% of all listings coming from this region, the highest share seen over the 4 years of this report

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – February 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.3MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – February 2011

After seeing the first two months of summer result in record low levels of new listings the month of February saw a strong rise with 11,395 new listings come onto the market. This level, whilst up a seasonally adjusted 9.5% as compared to January was still well down on the February levels of 2010 (14,329) and 2009 (12,164). This clearly shows that the overall sentiment in the market is quiet as was witnessed by the January sales levels reported by REINZ of 3,252, the lowest month on record.

The rise in new listings coupled with the low sales saw the inventory of unsold homes on the market rise again as measured on an equivalent number of weeks of sale basis. Having fallen for 3 months in a row the inventory levels rose to 48.9 weeks – well over 11 months supply. This level as compared to a long term average of 40 weeks means the property market is still very much in the camp of a buyer’s market with ample selection of properties to review.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings coming onto the market in February rose by over $13,000 from $406,525 to $420,265.

On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price actually fell by 1.1% to $412,128. The summer peak of new listings traditionally sees a rise in asking price.

The current asking price edged closer to the peak of asking price back in October 2007, it is currently just 2% below that peak.

New Listings

The record lows seen in the months of December and January when in total 17,224 new listings came onto the market, have been replaced by a surge in listings in February with 11,395 new listings coming onto the market. This level whilst relatively strong as judged by recent months, is significantly lower than prior years. The February total shows a 20% decline as compared to February last year.

On the most recent 12 month period a total of 133,883 new listings have come onto the market which represents a 3% decline compared to the same period last year.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of February fell slightly to 52,673 from 53,297 at the end of January. This represented the equivalent of 48.9 weeks of equivalent sales, as assessed on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The inventory of unsold houses remains high in absolute terms as the level of sales activity continues to be so weak.

At the current level the inventory still remains well above the long term average of 40 weeks.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

In spite of the overall rise in asking price nationally from $406,525 to $420,265 the regional picture shows significant variance. Just 7 of the 19 regions are showing increases in asking price. Of the remaining 12, four regions are showing falls in asking price of greater than 5% when judged against the recent 3 month average.

The significance in the price movement in the national asking price is the fact that the 3 major metro areas of Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland collectively representing 54% of all listings and in the month all saw increases in asking prices of up to 3%. In the case of Auckland and Wellington the February asking price was within 3% of the peak pricing which was reached towards the end of last year, this would indicate that the local markets in these key cities are more active with pressure on prices more noticeable than in provincial areas of the country.

Regional Summary – Listings

Judging the regional property market based on the number of new listings and the change over the past 12 months potentially presents a misleading picture as all regions are showing a significant year-on-year decline. This picture presented in the chart would normally indicate a move to a sellers’ market when listings are in short supply, however at this time the governing factor is the weakness of sales. So despite the low volume of listings the rate of sale still means that inventory of unsold properties in overall terms is growing.

In total 9 of the 19 regions are showing volumes of new listings over 20% down as compared to February last year. The issue could arise in the coming months when if sales were to be stimulated by seasonal factors matched to favourable lending rates the lack of new listings may result in pressure in local markets.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The inventory of unsold houses on the market rose in February after seeing 3 consecutive months of falls through the new year period. At 48.9 weeks this represents over 11 months of equivalent sales of property on the market. This results in 52,673 properties on the market (excluding sections).

Across the country there are just 2 regions (Central North Island and Bay of Plenty) that have a fair balance between inventory and sales. The remaining 17 regions comprise 10, which are significantly having an inventory well above long term average with the remaining 7 regions having level just above long term average. Such levels of inventory above long term average highlight a buyers market with ample selection of property for sale.

It is now over 12 months since the market last showed an inventory level below long term average as was seen through the 2009 year.

Lifestyle Property

A total of 936 new listings of lifestyle properties came onto the market in February. This represented a 6% increase on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior month, when seen against February last year it represents a 17% decline indicating that the lifestyle sector is performing in line with the overall property market.

The truncated mean asking price rose by 2.2% from January to a level of $552,591. This level still remains well below the peak of asking price seen in February 2009 at $633,811

Apartments

The number of new apartment listings coming onto the market in February totaled 478 a rise of 32% as compared to January although on a seasonally adjusted basis it represented a 4% fall. As with other sectors the relative level of new apartment listings remains subdued with the February 2011 level showing a 36% year on year decline.

The truncated mean asking price rose very slightly to $365,150 from $362,041 in January, this level is down 8% as compared to the recent 3 month average.

The representation of Auckland listings for apartment of the total for the country rose to over two thirds with 321 new listings with an asking price expectation of $324,716.

Property Price Index

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,050 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 11,395 new listings in the month of January a total of 133 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The categorisation of Lifestyle property is defined by the land area of the property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

Realestate.co.nz is the heart of the business and is focused to the residential property market. It features the most comprehensive selection of property for sale and rent across NZ. The website attracts a significant monthly audience of over 370,000 unique browsers, with over 110,000 of those visiting from countries outside of NZ.

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,050 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for February 2011 can be downloaded here (1.3MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for March 2011 will be published on this website on Friday 1st April 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, inventory, market commentary, new listings, property for sale, property reports

NZ Property Report – January 2011

Posted on: February 1st, 2011 | Posted in Featured, NZ Property Report

blue pen and small house The January 2011 NZ Property Report published by Realestate.co.nz provides an insight into the state of the New Zealand property market as measured by the supply side of the property market over the month of January. The key measures of the market analysed in the report are the number of new listings, the asking price expectation for those new listings and the level of inventory of unsold houses on the market at this time. The report is compiled from data captured by the website and represents close to 95% of all property movements in the NZ market as managed by licensed real estate agents.

The January 2011 report shows a new record low level of new listings coming onto the market. This was matched with a significant drop in asking price expectation. Whilst the level of new listings would normally push the market in favour of sellers given the dearth of new listings, the significant level of unsold property still on the market presents an opportunity for buyers.

The market as it enters the key summer period is opening up some opportunities with vendors considering putting their house on the market able to take advantage of an uncluttered position in the portfolio of new listings, ready able to attract the buyers that are out there. Existing property owners who have a property for sale as part of the current unsold inventory may need to review their asking price expectations as the new listings may be more reflective of the market today.

Buyers have a varied and diverse selection of property to review before making buying decisions with 48 weeks of inventory of unsold houses presenting a level considerably above the long term average of 40 weeks.

A full print version of the NZ Property Report – January 2011 is published below and is available for download (1.3MB) and distribution.

Summary of the market – January 2011

The first month of the year is traditionally a quiet period with significantly less business days and therefore listings coming onto the market tend to be subdued. The level of new listings for January 2011 is significantly low as compared to long term averages. Back at the start of 2008 as the Global Financial Crisis was just starting and the property market was turning down, a total of 26,097 new listings came onto the market in the combined months of December 2007 and January 2008; a year later as the market abruptly slowed the number in Dec/Jan had fallen to19,313. In 2009/2010 a year ago, there had been a degree of pick up to 20,621. This year over the same period the total is 17,224.

The market situation is unusual. Such low level of listings would normally reflect in a tight market where sellers would have the upper hand; however the scale of the unsold inventory, matched to still relatively low levels of sales, means that buyers have a great selection to research and a strong buyer advantage. It strangely would seem to be a market where the needs of buyers and sellers can be met. New listings tend to attract most interest in a property market and with such a recent shortage; new listings in the coming months will likely attract buyer interest. Recent new vendors with new listings are setting realistic price expectations as shown by the truncated mean asking price down to $406,525 this month.

Set against these statistics is the news that in terms of buyer interest online it could not be more active. As measured by Nielsen Online January saw over 2,000,000 browser visits to all the real estate websites in NZ, up 25% from 2010.

Asking Price

The truncated mean asking price for all new listings coming onto the market in January fell by over $9,000 from $415,750 to $406,525. On a seasonally adjusted basis the asking price remained unchanged from December at $416,666. There is traditionally a fall in asking price in January.

The current asking price slipped further from the peak of asking price back in October 2007, it is currently off 5.2%.

New Listings

Traditionally January is a weak month as it is a short business month; however the fall from the record low of new listing in December is significant. Just 8,300 new listings compares to 10,272 a year ago and 9,942 in January 2009.

On a moving annual basis the past 12 months have seen 136,817 new listings, just up on the 135,746 in the prior 12 month period, an increase of just 0.8%.

Inventory

The level of unsold houses on the market at the end of January rose slightly to 53,297 from 53,077 in December. This represented the equivalent of 47.9 weeks of equivalent sales, as assessed on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The inventory of unsold houses remains high in absolute terms as the sales activity impact is not being felt, even allowing for the significant lower level of new listings.

At the current level the inventory still remains well above the long term average of 40 weeks.

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

The very clear message from the chart below showing all of the 19 regions is that the asking price expectation of sellers with new listings right around the country is that asking prices are slipping lower. Nationally asking prices are down 2.7% as compared to the recent 3 month average. The only regions bucking the trend are the three east coast regions of Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne, together with Southland.

Significant slippage in asking prices are being seen in 5 regions – Waikato, Central North Island, Queenstown Lakes, Otago and the largest fall of 8.4% in the Hawkes Bay. The three main metropolitan regions of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury are all showing weaker asking prices of between 3% and 4%.

Regional Summary – Listings

The national low record level of new listings for January was reflected right across the country with all but 2 of the 19 regions showing new listings down as compared to January 2010.

There were 7 regions reporting a record low of listings – Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, Central North Island and Manawatu / Wanganui. Then in the South Island, Otago, Canterbury and the Central Otago Queenstown Lakes district.

Such low levels of listings pushes the market into a situation with a shortage of new properties to attract buyer, for despite the high inventory levels the attraction of new listings remain the lifeblood of the industry.

Regional Summary – Inventory

The inventory of unsold property on the market continues to ease since the latest peak in November last year when the inventory stood at 53.2 weeks of equivalent sales. It has now fallen to 47.9 weeks. Whilst this is a continuing trend of easing, the level of inventory remains stubbornly above the level at the same time last year and the long term average.

This level of inventory leads to an assessment of the market being a buyer’s market; however the shortage of new listings is lessening this effect given the dearth of new properties to attract such buyers.

Set against this overall high level of inventory there are key markets where inventory levels are pretty much now at long term averages – Auckland and Wellington as 2 key markets are fairly balances and the Central North Island is now below long term average establishing this region as being in a seller’s market situation.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle property listings fell significantly in January. At 727 new listings, the month represented a new record low. As compared to January last year the level of new listings is down 22%.

The asking price expectation for the new listings was up slightly at $540,825 from $537,368 in December. This represents a 3.2% decline as compared to January last year and a 3.5% decline in asking price as compared to the recent 3 month average.

Apartments

January new listings of apartments came close to beating the prior low record of 352 in January 2009. For January just 363 new apartment listings came onto the market. This represents a 16% year on year decline. The asking price expectation for apartments remains low with a figure of $362,041 in January down 8.3% as compared to the recent 3 month average and only just up on the record low of $356,306 in October 2010.

In Auckland just 238 new apartment listings came onto the market which represented a 5.2% year on year decline. The asking price for Auckland apartments in the month was $342,250 which was 7% down on the recent 3 month average, but identical to the asking price expectation of a year ago.

Property Price Index

Realestate.co.nz data is compiled from asking prices of new residential listings as they come onto the market via subscribers to the realestate.co.nz website. The Realestate.co.nz website currently has over 94% of all licensed real estate offices subscribing and providing all of their listings onto the website. The asking price is presented as a truncated mean price at a 10% interval.

REINZ: data is compiled from reported unconditional residential sales from all members of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand representing all licensed real estate offices. The sale price is published as a stratified median house price and is developed in association with the Reserve Bank of NZ.

Notes:

Truncated mean

The truncated mean used in this report removes the upper 10% and the lower 10% of listings in each data set. An average or mean of the balance of listings is then calculated.

Methodology

With the largest database of properties for sale in NZ, realestate.co.nz is uniquely placed to immediately identify any changes in the marketplace. The realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report is compiled from new listings coming onto the market from the more than 1,050 licensed real estate offices across NZ, representing more than 95% of all offices.

With an average monthly level of over 10,000 new listings, the realestate.co.nz NZ Property Report provides the largest monthly sample report on the residential property market, as well as a more timely view of the property market than any other property report. The data is collated and analysed at the close of each month, and the Report is compiled for the 1st day of the following month. This provides a feedback mechanism as to the immediate state of the market, well in advance of sales statistics which by the very nature of the selling process can reflect activity with a lag of between 2 and 4 months.

In analysing the details of the 8,300 new listings in the month of January a total of 81 listings have been excluded due to anomalies. The categorisation of Lifestyle property is defined by the land area of the property. The criterion is a property having in excess of 0.3 hectares and being situated outside metropolitan areas.

Background to Realestate.co.nz

The business operates a portfolio of websites all focused to specialist sectors of the real estate market:

Realestate.co.nz is the heart of the business and is focused to the residential property market. It features the most comprehensive selection of property for sale and rent across NZ. The website attracts a significant monthly audience of over 370,000 unique browsers, with over 110,000 of those visiting from countries outside of NZ.

Zoodle is a specialist property information website providing very detailed data on all residential properties in NZ. The database comprises over 1.5m properties with detailed specifications, map and local amenities. The site provides online reports for free and for purchase covering valuation and legal information to greatly assist the needs of property buyers and sellers.

The web business of Realestate.co.nz site is the most comprehensive real estate web operation in NZ, currently hosting over 120,000 listings, covering this portfolio of residential property for sale and rent, commercial property for sale and lease, rural properties and farms, as well as businesses for sale. With a subscriber base of over 1,050 offices, the company represents over 95% of all listings from licensed real estate agents in NZ.

The full NZ Property Report for January 2011 can be downloaded here (1.3MB pdf document). Additionally the raw data is accessible here as an Excel spreadsheet enabling anyone to analyse the raw data and establish any trends or observations.

Usage rights are governed under attribution to the source of the data being Realestate.co.nz. The next NZ Property Report for February 2011 will be published on this website on Tuesday 1st March 2011 at 10am.

Tags: asking price, Inventory of unsold homes, new listings, property market, Property report, selling a home

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Summary of the market – October 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – September 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – August 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – July 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – June 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – May 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – April 2011

Asking Price

New Listings

Inventory

Regional Summary – Asking price expectations

Regional Summary – Listings

Regional Summary – Inventory

Lifestyle

Apartments

Property Price Index

Notes:

Summary of the market – March 2011