The Central Otago and Lakes region has become the first area in New Zealand where the average residential home asking price tops $700,000.
A seller's market abounds nationally, with 18 of 19 regions around the country showing housing stock inventories well below long-term averages, with Auckland and Canterbury respectively at 59% and 52% below averages, data in Realestate.co.nz's monthly New Zealand Property Report for May said.
Separately, national house sales in April were up 25% on a year ago at 7106, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has reported.
REINZ Dunedin spokeswoman Liz Nidd said that in general the number of houses on the market were down about 10%, which was contributing to rising prices.
A Maori Hill home recently sold for more than $750,000, with four ''competitive'' buyers, who had been looking anywhere from six months to two years for the right house, while another Dunedin home was put on the market on Friday, and sold on Saturday to the first offer.
''Properties in good areas, especially with sun at this time of year, are doing well on the market,'' she said.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted mean asking price in May rose by 4.3% to a record $454,795Central Otago and Lakes hit a record $707,510 average, while Auckland's asking price rose to a record $631,656.
While the level of new listings rose almost 6%, from April to May at 11,001, that was a more than 7% decline on May last year.
REINZ Wanaka spokeswoman Gale Hudson, said there was increased demand from people returning from overseas and also from Christchurch. She estimated housing stock numbers in Queenstown were down more than 10%, while in Wanaka it was less than 10% down.
Ms Hudson said the $707,000 asking price record ''was indicative'' of the area. Realestate.co.nz marketing manager Paul McKenzie said the low levels of inventory across most regions indicated a national continuation of a sellers' market.
