National median house prices decrease 13.9% year-on-year

PHOTO: REINZ chief executive Jan Baird

Cyclone Gabrielle has made its impact felt on the housing market, according to new figures from The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

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Across the country, median house prices for February decreased by 13.9% year-on-year to $762,000.

While the nationwide median price decreased, some regions saw an increase when compared with numbers from January.

Auckland saw a 7% increase, which tipped the city’s median house price back to being just over $1 million.

**Annual median price changes for February 2023. (Source: Supplied)**

When it comes to new listings, Auckland’s were down 36.9% compared to February 2022, with 2755 — down from 4365.

Nationally, new listings decreased 29.5%. In February 2022, there were 11,545, dropping to 8143 this year.

REINZ chief executive Jan Baird said the ongoing economic impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle are why the numbers are down compared to last year, but will slowly start to return to normal levels as the country recovers.

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“February traditionally shows a reasonable month of activity, but the impact of extreme and devastating weather over the start of 2023 is certainly showing in the data with sales and listings significantly down in affected areas.

“We may continue to see this for some time in parts of Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.”

However, she did say inventory levels are now starting to return to normal levels after years of historical lows.

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“Even though new listings are down as communities respond to the weather and the anticipation of economic adjustments ahead, inventory levels are now showing a return to standard levels after a few years at historically low levels.

“When we looked at the trend over a 10-year period, we can definitely see the return to normal stock levels,” Baird suggested.

Market Snapshot - February 2023. — **Market Snapshot – February 2023. (Source: Supplied)**

The total number of sales was up across the country at the end of February.

There were 29,083 properties, up 5813 compared to this time last year, up 25%. They were also up 4.9% from 27,732 compared to January of this year.

New Zealand excluding Auckland, was up from 13,253 to 18,656, or 40.8%. Inventory was also up 4.9% from 17,781 properties since last month.

“This means there is plenty of choice for buyers in the market today,” Baird said.

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The number of residential sales across the country slowed down over the last 12 months, 31.1%, from 5750 in 2022 to 3964 in 2023. Month-on-month saw an increase of 40.4%.

Median days to the sale were at 60 in February 2023, up 18 days from last year. There has also been a slight increase of six days from 54 in January 2023.

Baird said these kinds of increases are normal.

“Our seasonally adjusted data shows that when compared to what is typically observed moving from the month of January to the month of February, all regions except Taranaki and Tasman had smaller gains in sales count month-on-month than what would be expected.

“In other words, even though the sales count change from January to February looks significant, we would typically expect greater increases based on what has been observed historically.

“Rising interest rates, increased cost of living and inability to secure finance is still having an impact on buyers, but REINZ members are telling of returned activity at open homes in areas that weren’t as impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle,” Baird added.

The REINZ House Price Index showed the changing value of residential property nationwide decreased 14.2% from last year, with a 12.3% decrease for New Zealand, excluding Auckland.