The average asking price for Auckland houses rose for the first time in four months in July and is now comparable to the listing price in February, says property website realestate.co.nz.
The asking price was up 3 per cent on June and now sits at $959,067, which compares to the February 2018 asking price of $961,940.
Record asking prices were registered in six regions in July compared to the previous month.
The biggest rise was in Northland, with a 6.3 per cent increase to $623,799.
Close behind was Manawatu/Wanganui with a 3.3 per cent increase to $357,206, and Waikato where the average asking price was up 2.2 per cent to $575,102.
Wellington, Wairarapa and Nelson and Bays average asking prices were all up 1.5 per cent to $628,899, $487,941, $622,994 respectively.
Nationwide, the average asking price in July increased 0.9 per cent on the previous month, to $652,289.
The number of properties available for sale nationally fell 3.8 per cent to 21,288 compared to the same month in 2017.
“While this is what could be considered a classic supply and demand situation, there are significant variations across the country so there is no one-size-fits all,” said Vanessa Taylor, realestate.co.nz spokesperson.
“For serious buyers, it could be likened to cherry-picking in a very large orchard,” she said.
Nationally, new property listings were down 5.4 per cent compared to July 2017, with 7,508 new listings coming onto the market this past month.
Auckland and Wellington recorded significant falls in new listings - 7 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively - compared to July last year.
But in seven of the 19 regions, the lowest number of new listings in any July month was recorded since realestate.co.nz started collecting data more than 11 years ago.
Coromandel, Wairarapa, Nelson/Bays, Northland, Central Otago/Lakes, Marlborough and Otago all registered record lows.
Five regions recorded an increase in new listings in July - Taranaki, Gisborne, Waikato, West Coast and Canterbury.
Searches for properties on realestate.co.nz returned to 2018 summertime levels, with statistics from the site showing there were 846,818 unique browsers to the site in July.
SHARE ME