2022 There was a buyers' market in several regions in December 2022, according to realestate.co.nz data. Photo: RNZ
New data shows there were more houses on the market in December 2022 than there had been at that time in 15 years.
According to realestate.co.nz, 2022 ended with buyers' markets emerging in Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson Bays, and Otago.
All regions saw the number of houses on the market increasing year-on-year in December 2022 and four regions saw housing stock more than double:
- Coromandel was up 175.3 percent
- Nelson Bays was up 147.2 percent
- Taranaki up 118.6 percent
- Central North Island was up 110.3 percent
Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said national housing stock levels were also up by 55.3 percent year-on-year.
Williams said changing interest rates and cost of living concerns had contributed to the slowdown.
A buyers' market meant people have had more time to consider their options and vendors were reassessing their sale price expectations, she said.
Graphs showing that the average number of houses for sale was up by about 55 percent year-on-year in December 2022, and that the overall average number of new listings in December 2022 was nearly 26 percent lower than in December 2021. Photo: realestate.co.nz
Last year the national asking price for houses trended downwards in response to rising inflation, interest rate hikes and shifting lending rules, she said.
"There have been a lot of external factors at play this year. Not only have we seen significant economic activity within New Zealand and globally, but we have also been in recovery from the skyrocketing prices we saw during the peak of pandemic restrictions," Williams said in a statement.
Southland bucked the trend in terms of falling house prices and set a record with the region's average asking price hitting $547,269 in December 2022 for the first time since records began 15 years ago, Williams said.
The record price may have been due to demand exceeding supply as new property listings in Southland were down by about 39 percent compared to the same month in 2021, she said.
Nationally, the average asking price increased to $920,422 in December after dipping just below $900,000 in November 2022.
The number of new listings was down in almost all regions in December 2022 compared to December 2021 with only Taranaki and Coromandel seeing a rise in new listings in that period.
New listings dropped by more than 20 percent nationally and in nine regions, Williams said.
"In other words, fewer people put their homes on the market in December 2022 than in December 2021.
"There could be many reasons for this; the coming election, nervousness around prices or the fact that finance is more expensive than it was a year ago," Williams said.