Figures from the Real Estate Institute [REINZ] show 269 fewer houses were sold in Otago in May compared to the previous year and in Southland there were 115 fewer sales.
Only Tasman had a bigger percentage drop — with 50 fewer houses sold and a drop of 62.5%. Otago sales dropped 56.2% and Southland fell by 54.8%.
Queenstown-Lakes was one of only two regions to record an increase of listings on the same time last year, up by 21.8%.
Median house prices were down 2.6% to $950,000 and sales were down 66.3% to 33 for May.
Queenstown real estate agent David Gubb said it was difficult to get a clear picture of the market there.
"The feel of the way it is at the moment doesn’t necessarily reflect those numbers from May — it feels a little better than that."
He was expecting activity to ramp up when Queenstown gets an "influx of people" during the next school holidays, in July.
In Dunedin, house prices were up 13.6% on the same time last year to a median of $500,000 and Bayleys Metro Dunedin owner Mark Stevens was upbeat about the market.
"Apart from one or two people that have had issues with employment ... there’s still a huge demand in Dunedin."
He said before Covid they would get four or five potential buyers.
"Even if we lose one or two of those, there’s still huge demand.
"Almost every sale since the lockdown or since Level 3 has been multiple offers."
He described the prices as "pre-Covid" prices.
"In fact, the prices have probably even lifted a little bit. It’s very hard to say yet but they certainly haven’t gone down."
Median house prices for Southland jumped 22.8% on last year to $345,000.
“There is more investor interest with low interest rates and opportunities being sought out. However, there are fewer first-home buyers, compared to previous months, likely due to Covid-19 and unemployment," REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell said.
She said the number of residential properties sold across New Zealand decreased by 46.6% in May.
"[Alert Level 3] restrictions meant only two property viewings per property, per day were allowed, making it difficult to get interested parties through a property in a timely and efficient manner."
She said there was a shortage of new listings coming to the market, which was flowing on to reduced sales numbers.
"Hopefully, as people’s confidence starts to lift as we move through the alert level systems, the listings shortage will start to change."
From April to May there was an increase in sales of 191% as the country moved out of lockdown.
Nationwide sales, excluding Auckland, dropped 47.4% in May and in the country’s biggest city sales dropped 44.5%.
Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 6.9% in May, to $620,000, up from $580,000 in May 2019.
House sales
- Otago sales down 56.2%
- Southland sales down 54.8%
- Median price for Dunedin up 13.6% to $500,000
- Median price for Southland up 22.8% to $345,000
- Median price for Queenstown down 2.6% to $950,000
