Buyers struggle to find properties

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The squeeze is going on the market as the number of properties for sale drops quickly, new data from the Real Estate Institute shows.

Friday, July 15th 2016, 12:00AM 1 Comment

by The Landlord

It has released its data for June, which shows a 40% drop in properties available for sale, year-on-year. Wellington has the least available stock – with only seven weeks’ worth of property listed.

Five regions hit new record high median sale prices. The national median eased by 1% to $500,000.

Price inflation has moved from Auckland to the regions – Waikato/Bay of Plenty recorded its fifth record median price for 2016, reaching $438,000.

Northland also had a record median of $360,000 and Central Otago Lakes hit $730,050.

Spokesman Bryan Thomson said: “Although the onset of winter means that June is generally a quieter month for the real estate market, there has been no let-up in the rate of price increases across the country, with five regions recording new record median prices. The ‘usual suspects’ of Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Central Otago Lakes and Northland once again saw new prices reached, and Auckland and Otago chimed in with their own record highs.

“Although there is much discussion about the housing market and increasing new build supply, the fact remains that the vast majority of the supply comes from the sale of existing properties. The inventory data continues to show rapid declines in the volume of properties available for sale right across the country, with a number of regions, such as Wellington and Hawke’s Bay, recording very low levels of properties for sale,” he said.

“While Auckland continues to be the largest single region, its influence on the national picture is waning due to its own weaker sales and strong growth in sales in other regions, particularly Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Northland. Auckland’s peak share of national sales was 39.7% in January 2014, however, its share is now just over 33.8%. Over the same period Waikato/Bay of Plenty’s share of national sales has increased from 14.3% to 19%.”

There were 7864 unconditional residential sales in June, a 6% increase on June 2015 and a 13% decline on May.

Between June 2015 and June 2016, the number of homes sold for more than $1 million increased by one third.

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