homes available for sale slumped to an all-time low, a property listings website said. According to Realestate.co.nz, in the month of August, New Zealand had a total of 12, 249 houses on the market, the lowest level since records began 14 years ago.
As people were confined to their homes for the first time in months, seven of the sixteen regions reported record low levels of houses available for sale. However, 21.4 per cent increase was recorded in Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island, while Wairarapa, in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, had an increase of 1.6 per cent.
According to Vanessa Williams, a spokesperson for Realestate.co.nz, the level 4 lockdown measures has been a key contributor to the ongoing decline in housing stock, as the website usually had between 300 to 500 new property listings each working day. This stumbled to fewer than 150 since the beginning of the pandemic-induced restrictions.
However, she added that the situation can be attributed to several other factors as well. “Plenty of factors are at play with our stock shortage, but with reports of sellers unable to find a new home to live in, it’s no wonder some are hesitant to list their houses. This contributes to lower stock as it becomes a cycle,” Williams noted.
She also pointed out that although stock has been stymied by the lockdown, the restrictions have not cooled the demand in the housing market. While the national average price of a house hit $900,671 in August, the amount of time spent by viewers on the property website also increased in comparison to the last level 4 lockdown.
