WARMER WEATHER HEATS UP HOUSING MARKET

Garry Tranter from Price My House for Free Limited

The Trade Me Property Price Index shows the national average for October rising by 2.7% to $623,700 from September.

It's been lean pickings for buyers over the last five months, with little housing stock available nationwide, but October saw the market perk up with 30% more listings on the site than in September.

Trade Me Property head Nigel Jeffries says that this time of year is usually buoyant, but it's taken longer than usual for the market to kick into action.

“Usually by this time of year we expect to see the property market in full swing, but with the election in play it’s pushed everything back. We’re starting to see some of the movement we’d normally expect in this peak buying and selling season," he says.

Auckland property listings on Trade Me buck the downward trend revealed by the latest QV figures, rising by 2.2% from last year to $925,300.

“If we compare this with October 2010, we can see the massive changes in the Auckland property market over the past seven years. Since 2010, the number of houses for sale has dropped 58 per cent which has forced the average asking price up 88 per cent from a relatively tiny $487,250."

This trend is mirrored in the capital, with average asking prices surging 11.7% from last year.

“While Auckland has stalled in recent months, the capital’s property market has been surging ahead. It’s very common to see the bubble from a large property market spread - first it was the halo regions of Northland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty and now Wellington looks to be the next cab off the rank. We’ve seen consistently strong growth and the market isn’t showing any signs of slowing."

The provinces also performed well in October, with record average prices in Hawke's Bay ($487,300), Manawatu ($309,700) and Waikato ($534,900). Marlborough in the South Island also broke its previous record, with an average asking price of $464,650.

Source: landlords.co.nz