Auckland housing gridlocked

Posted by MarkL on February 16, 2015

The number of houses for sale in Auckland fell to an eight year low in January according to property website realestate.co.nz. 

The property website said the available inventory of housing in Auckland was the lowest it had been since it started compiling records in 2007. 

Meanwhile, the average asking price for houses for sale in Auckland was $750,023 in January, some 2.4% higher than the previous record high of $732,240 recorded in June 2014. 

The shortage of housing was having a gridlock effect on the property market in Auckland as people were reluctant to list their house to sell without securing another one to buy. 

James Wilson of QVhomevalue Auckland told the New Zealand Herald the city was beset by a listings drought, which was having knock-on effects.

"There is a severe shortage of listings across Auckland and we are getting reports that people are cautious about selling their homes without first securing somewhere else to move to. Vendors are wary about being priced out of the market, so if they were to sell at auction on a Monday and were cashed up, they might not be able to buy where they would like to and they could be caught out without a house," he said.

There was some good news for sellers though with Realestate.co.nz CEO Brendon Skipper told Interest.co.nz it was a good time to sell. 

"Coupled with the fall in inventory, the current property market is one of the most favourable for sellers for some time.”

ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown told Interest.co.nz, the house price inflation in Auckland would continue to rise. 

"Demand has picked up in recent months but the supply of new listings remain low. The number of weeks of inventory measure has fallen to just 9.4 weeks, the lowest level ever recorded in realestate.co.nz’s data, which date back to 2007, " said Tennent-Brown.

Given the Auckland housing market has tightened in recent months, house price inflation pressures will intensify, he added.