The Property Market Pulse report provides a set of factsheets for each of the 19 regions of the country consolidating the latest data from key sources in the real restate market. From the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) comes the latest sales numbers for June as well as the median sales price for key regions and the stratified sales price for key centers. From the Realestate.co.nz comprehensive database of listings comes the key measure of inventory of unsold properties on the market.
Property Sales
The number of property sales is a key measure of buyer activity. The Real Estate Institute release this data on a monthly basis from the sales made by all licensed agents in the prior month making this data the most timely and comprehensive. Actual monthly sales data is effected by seasonal factors, for this reason seasonally adjusted data is presented which clearly shows one month to the next if the sales are going up or down.
Commentary:
Sales in June fell by 3.6% from May on a seasonally adjusted basis. A total of 4,575 property sales were recorded by licensed real estate agents in the month of June. Back in June 2009 the total sales was 6,040. In the first 6 months of 2010 a total of 29,844 properties were sold across the country this is down 12.7% as compared to the first half of 2009 when 34,169 properties were sold.
Property Price
The selling price of properties measures that critical balance between what a buyer is prepared to pay and what a seller is prepared to accept. The Real Estate Institute data of prior month sales produces a median price. This raw number is then re-calculated through a model developed in partnership with the Reserve Bank of NZ to create a Stratified Price, which ensures that volume changes in key price segments do not skew the figures.
Commentary:
The stratified price rose slightly in June to $363,925 from $361,600 in June. The June price is up 4.2% as compared to June 2009. As highlighted in the chart above the sale price across the country has remained fairly stable over the past 9 month with some small ups and downs. The current price is still 4.5% below the peak price in the market back in November 2007.
Stock of Property
The number of properties on the month is provided from Realestate.co.nz data and measures the level of seller activity in the market. The data represents the total number of new listings coming onto the market each month and is compiled at the start of each month for the prior month and is published in the NZ Property Report. The measure of properties on the market is represented by the number of weeks of equivalent sales, and judged on a comparative basis with prior months more accurately reflects the state of the market.
Commentary:
The level of inventory of properties on the market measured in equivalent weeks of sale fell again in June. It now stands at 45 weeks as compared to 47 weeks in May and 35 weeks in June last year. The long term average is around 38 weeks which would indicate that the market is still very much in favour of buyers rather than sellers.
These statistics are the aggregation of all the statistics from across the country. As is well know by those in the industry, real estate is a local business and in an attempt to provide greater insight into the local market the same set of key data – sales, selling price and inventory has been calculated for each of the 19 regions of the country. Check out the factsheet for your local region to see what is happening in your neck of the woods.
North Island
- Northland
- Auckland
- Coromandel
- Waikato
- Central North Island
- Bay of Plenty
- Gisborne
- Hawkes Bay
- Taranaki
- Manawatu / Wanganui
- Wairarapa
- Wellington
South Island
