Five regions in New Zealand saw median sales prices hit a new record high but overall the median price nationals fell by 1% in June, the latest real estate index shows.
The median sales price now stands at $500,000 with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region recorded its fifth record median sale price for 2016, reaching $438,000, while the median price in Auckland reaching $821,000.
The data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) also shows that Northland recorded a new record median of $360,000, while Otago reached $295,000 and Central Otago Lakes hit $730,050.
The index figures reveal that sales fell 13% month on month which is in line with the general trend at this time of the year although an increase of 6% was recorded in June 2015.
‘Although the onset of winter means that June is generally a quieter month for the real estate market, there has been no let-up in the rate of price increases across the country, with five regions recording new record median prices,’ said REINZ spokesperson Bryan Thomson.
‘Although there is much discussion about the housing market and increasing new build supply, the fact remains that the vast majority of the supply comes from the sale of existing properties,’ he added.
The data also reveals a rapid declines in the volume of properties available for sale right across the country, with a number of regions, such as Wellington and Hawke’s Bay, recording very low levels of properties for sale.
Thomson pointed out that while Auckland continues to be the largest single region, its influence on the national picture is waning due to its own weaker sales and strong growth in sales in other regions, particularly Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Northland.
Auckland’s peak share of national sales was 39.7% in January 2014, however, its share is now just over 33.8%. Over the same period Waikato/Bay of Plenty’s share of national sales has increased from 14.3% to 19.0%.
A breakdown of the figures shows that Central Otago Lakes recorded the largest percentage increase in median price compared to June 2015, at 42%, followed by Waikato/Bay of Plenty at 26% and Otago at 19%.
The number of properties available for sale across all regions in New Zealand has continued to fall between June 2015 and June 2016. Wellington has the fewest properties for sale with just over seven weeks of supply, closely followed by Hawke’s Bay with nine weeks supply and Auckland with just under 10 weeks of supply.
The number of days to sell has only improved by three days at the national level over the past 12 months, although the regions have seen some significant improvements with nine regions seeing a decrease of 20% or more in the number of days to sell. Auckland was the only region to see a lengthening of the number of days to sell over the past 12 months.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, the number of homes sold for more than $1 million increased by one third. The proportion of sales of homes under $600,000 has declined from 66.4% to 60.6%, a drop of 5.8%. The proportion of sales of homes under $400,000 declined by 6.1% year on year.
