Summary
- Further bad news for new homeowners, buyable homes on a decline.
- Five Major regions witness a record decline in number of properties.
- Consumer trend shifting from existing homes, towards construction of new ones.
The housing issue in the country seems to be getting no better with only new angles to the problem arising every day. In a new development, it has been said that there was shortage of houses to buy. Statistically, there has been a decline in the number of properties ready for sale/lease/rent, etc., in the past year. This is indicative of the fact that even though the government and other agencies are making several efforts to manage the crisis, the situation is nowhere under control yet.
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Downwards, the trend
Especially in five regions, the numbers have dipped by record figures. The Lake District/Central Otago has witnessed a decline of 34% while Northland saw figures dropped by 47.8%. Nelson and Bays witnessed a downfall of 57.9% whereas Canterbury witnessed a 48.5% decline. The downfall in Coromandel was 59.4%. Even the big cities have witnessed impact with Auckland standing at a decline of 23.3% and Wellington having suffered a decline of 14.3%.
On the other hand, only the region of Gisborne witnessed an increase in the number of properties available with a 30.9% increase in the same.
Also read: Housing Crisis Deepens in New Zealand
It was further found that while at the peak of the market, in 2008, the number of purchase-ready properties available in the market were 60,000, whereas the current scenario has merely 14,000 of them.
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In the month of June, the average asking price was recorded at NZ$875,197, which is 20.2% more than the same time last year. The West Coast witnessed what is the biggest annual price increase, a massive 57.8%, standing at NZ$450,523.
What now?
A leading property analysis Company, was of the view that the trend for home purchases is downward and even though there were anticipations of the asking prices to cool off a bit after the efforts being made, that has not happened till now. As a result, the focus of investors is also seen shifting towards building new properties rather than buying existing ones.
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