Hawke's Bay listings surge as country falls behind

The number of homes for sale nationwide has slumped nearly 50 per cent over the past decade, Realestate.co.nz analysis shows. Photo/File

Hawke's Bay is the only region in the North Island to have rising property listings year on year, according to the latest figures from realestate.co.nz.

The region is one of only four in the country to have bucked the trend of falling listing numbers compared to October 2016. Hawke's Bay listings have increased 3.6 per cent or 341 listings - the country's highest number of new listings year on year.

The national average shows listings dropped 8.4 per cent in this time.

Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor thought these results continued the Hawke's Bay property market's positive trend.

"Not just this month, last month [it was] the only region in New Zealand to have any kind of uptake," she said. "Hawke's Bay has been an anomaly, there's quite a strong market down there and it's seen a good number of new listings coming on to the market".

With many buyers coming from Auckland, Wellington, and the Manawatu/Whanganui areas, "people are looking to move out to the region and have a bit more of a lifestyle break".

"The types of property people are looking for are bigger sections, typically that quarter-acre dream."

The uptake in listings coming to market has been welcomed by local agents.

Property Brokers regional director for Hawke's Bay Paul Whitaker said they had listed over 140 properties last month - the most they had had in the past 18 months.

As there had been limited supply for a long time, this momentum meant there was more confidence from buyers, while others were confident they could sell, and then find another property.

Other vendors were "perceiving the slowdown soon to come so they're trying to cash in on the back of that".

"We've seen significant increases now for the past few months and it's a trend we expect to continue."

Cox Partners director Malcolm Cox said the surge in listings could have been driven by the change of season, and that more political certainty could have played a part with a "significantly higher" number of listings in the past week.

"There's interesting forces at play at the moment," he said.

Although population growth, and low levels of supply in the region was driving demand, other things influencing the market were pressure on interest rates, affordability, and anecdotes that banks were tightening lending criteria.

Harcourts managing director Kaine Wilson said their stock levels had also increased, including listing a couple of subdivisions.

"We have had a lift, there was a little halt around the election but only for a week or so. When we see this weather change we definitely see a few more people positive and active."

Real Estate.co.nz figures also showed demand had increased, while housing stock in Hawke's Bay was down 11.6 per cent, or 513 properties, and that the asking price had dropped 1.1 per cent, or by $450,565.

Their analysis also showed that nationwide the number of homes for sale had slumped nearly 50 per cent over the past decade.

In October 2007 around 47,958 homes were listed for sale on realestate.co.nz. Last month, the number had dropped to just 24,307.