The following is an excerpt from the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Property Report – released on 14 March 2019.
The number of properties sold in Auckland in February fell by 17.9% year-on-year (from 1,654 to 1,358) – the lowest for a non-January month since October 2010. In addition, Auckland saw the median number of days to sell a property increase by 8 days from 49 to 57 – the highest number of days to sell since February 2009.
Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at REINZ says: “At a time when sales volumes are normally strong, when we look across the country, 13 out of 16 regions actually saw an annual fall in the number of properties sold. Traditionally children go back to school and people return from their holidays and housing activity picks up, however, February 2019 has been an exception to this rule.
“Vendors are seeing the market dynamics and understand that the market is more complex now, but they are still holding out for the right price in many instances.“
Graph commentary – the trend in the median price was flat to decreasing over the past 18 months, with the volume trend flat over the past year. The days to sell trend continues to ease.
The full report can be read here.