WELLINGTON: The average asking price for residential property in Auckland has broken through the $800,000 mark for the first time.
It follows the release of QV data last month showing the average value of Auckland homes had also passed $800,000.
Figures released today by Realestate.co.nz show Auckland vendors were asking an average price of $820,016 in June.
This was 3.4 per cent higher than the previous record of $793,260 recorded in May.
Nationally, the average asking price for homes hit another record high for the sixth consecutive month, rising 0.9 per cent in June to reach $537,682.
Three regions in particular saw a strong increase in asking price, with the Auckland market having the biggest impact nationally due to its size.
Sellers in Central Otago asked on average 9 per cent more for their homes in June than in May, reaching an average asking price of $762,284. Gisborne asking prices experienced even higher relative growth of 10.3 per cent, but from a lower base – the average asking price in Gisborne in June was $287,140.
Other regions that saw monthly increases during June included Manawatu/Wanganui (+4.8 per cent), Taranaki (+4.5 per cent), Otago (+2.1 per cent), Canterbury (+1.8 per cent) and Central North Island (+1.7 per cent).
Major population centres such as Wellington and the Waikato saw a small decrease in average asking price. In Wellington, it fell by 1 per cent to $457,488, and in the Waikato by 0.5 per cent to $385,325.
A total of 8748 new properties were listed nationwide in June, 2.6 per cent more than during the corresponding month in 2014. Of these, 3138 were in Auckland. The only other region that saw more than 1000 new properties come onto the market was Canterbury, with 1117. More than 500 new properties were listed for sale in each of Waikato, the Bay of Plenty and Wellington.
Despite these new properties coming onto the market, the national average in overall inventory of available housing stock for sale remains at an all-time low of only 20 weeks. Inventory is a measure of supply and demand that indicates how long it would take, in theory, for all the current properties on the market to be sold at the current average rate of sales.
Based on these figures, only two of the 19 regions in the country are currently rated as buyers’ markets – Southland and West Coast.
Meanwhile, Realestate.co.nz chief executive Brendon Skipper said the site recorded a big jump in mobile app usage in the last 12 months with users increasingly checking new listings from their smartphones.
There was a 44 per cent increase in mobile app users to the site, who were also visiting the property portal more often than they did during the same month last year.
“Today, the average smartphone user visits the app 16 per cent more often than they did a year ago in June 2014.
“Clearly, serious home buyers have realised that there is a competitive advantage to be gained by inspecting online listings as frequently as possible, and the Realestate.co.nz mobile app provides a powerful platform to search for properties anytime, from anywhere.”
