Nationally, the asking price for houses moved up 3.8% in December from the previous month to $660,798.Central Otago Lakes matched the national movement to edge ahead of Auckland with an average asking price of $984,719.
Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said the region showed a significant drop in house listings in December, down nearly 27% to 212 properties.
"This would appear to have had some effect on the region’s climbing asking prices."
Nationally, new listings were down and 13 of the 19 regions experienced a drop, she said.
Auckland contributed significantly, listing only 1908 new houses in December, down 7.8% compared with December 2016.
The largest fall was in Wairarapa, down nearly 33% to 98 year on year, she said.Hawke’s Bay was another region with a significant new listings fall, down 21.7% with only 22 new properties.
Ms Taylor said although average asking prices hit a record high in December, new listings dropped to the lowest level on record.
The latest figures showed new listings were down 6.2% in December, compared with December 2016 — 7133 compared with 7606. During the summer break, Auckland had moved from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market for the first time since February 2011, she said.
Theoretically, if no new listings came on to the market in Auckland and all existing stock was sold, there would be no houses for sale in 24 weeks — overtaking the long-term average and making it a buyers’ market.
Auckland received new property valuations last year, which might be leading vendors to expect more than the market wanted to pay, Ms Taylor said.
"While the average Auckland Council house valuation is now more than $1million, vendors and buyers need to remember this is an average, not necessarily a starting point."
December was always a low month on the housing charts and it would be interesting to see if the latest trends continued throughout the year, she said.
Areas which experienced the biggest asking price increases included Nelson and Bays, up 11.3% at $618,712; Marlborough, up 10% at $479,288; the West Coast, up 8.7% at $265,396; Southland, up 6.4% at $309,174; and Wairarapa, up 5.4% to $429,488.
The largest falls in asking prices were in the Central North Island, down 7.4% to $403,648, and Gisborne, down 4.7% to $287,928.ASB economist Kim Mundy said the housing market remained volatile and uncertainty was continuing to affect market activity.
After new listings jumped in November, suggesting sellers had been waiting for election uncertainty to pass, new listings in December reversed much of those gains.
"This reinforces our current view that, given the numerous changes taking place in the housing market at the moment, it will be some time before a clear trend becomes evident."
The ASB continued to expect Labour and New Zealand First’s housing policies to weigh on the market, she said.
At a glance
• Central Otago Lakes has New Zealand’s top house asking price.
• House listings fall in December, reversing much of November’s gain.
• Uncertainty by both buyers and sellers affects market activity.
• December a low month for house listings, a watch being kept for a recovery.
