Market Reports

Sheryn from Sheryn Prince Real Estate

Volume of homes for sale on Trade Me Property continues building over autumn with price signals mixed.

There are further signs the housing market is heading into winter with a large oversupply of unsold homes.

Trade Me Property is the latest property website to report a surge in properties for sale, after rival website Realestate.co.nz reported a similar surge a week ago.

Trade Me Property said the number of properties listed for sale on the site hit a decade high in February, and continued to climb another 6% in March. That puts total stock up 12% compared to March last year.

Viewings on the website were also up, suggesting increased demand form buyers, although that was not a surprise because February and March are traditionally the busiest months of the year for residential real estate.

"We've seen a fairly persistent imbalance between supply and demand in more recent times, with more homes available than demand suppressing the big pricing gains we saw back in 2021," Trade Me Property Customer Director Gavin Lloyd said.

"While it's great to see demand momentum gaining, and we saw highs in March not seen since mid-2020, the current market still offers buyers a huge amount of choice,' he said.

On the pricing side, Trade Me Property's average asking price was $861,900 in March, up $10,000 (1.2%) compared to February, but down 2.6% compared to March last year.

Around the country, price trends in March were mixed, with Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu/Whanganui, Nelson/Tasman and Canterbury showing average asking price gains compared to February. Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Taranaki, Marlborough, West Coast, Otago and Southland showed declines, with no change in Wellington.