News from Trade Me Property
Properties for sale in New Zealand are spending less time on the market and prices have increased for the first time in 10 months, according to the latest Trade Me Property Price Index.
But Wellington and Auckland and Wellington are yet to follow the national trend, with prices continuing to cool.
In Wellington, prices dipped under the $800,000 mark in August for the first time since February 2021 to $795,950, falling 1.8 per cent on July.
The average asking price in the Auckland region fell 1.1 per cent on July to $1,023,000 – the lowest since February 2021.
Trade Me Property Sales Director Gavin Lloyd said NZ hit the bottom of the market in July this year with properties spending 74 days onsite while the national average asking price reached its lowest point since June 2021.
“August, however, was a turning point.”
After the median days onsite steadily increased throughout the year, August saw this retreat to 68 days, falling six days compared to July. This wasn’t the only sign that the market had bounced back with vendors moving towards less price transparent methods of sale, said Mr Lloyd.
“We often see the method of sale for a property change depending on market conditions. In a hot market, when demand is high and supply is low, we tend to see vendors move towards less price transparent selling methods like auctions and tenders. In a cool market, vendors are more transparent about the price they want and therefore opt for methods like enquiries over or asking price.
“In August we saw a small but noticeable shift towards less price transparent methods of sale with auctions making up 19 per cent of total listings, up from 10 per cent in July. The total number of