House listings surge in New Zealand and Auckland, data from realestate.co.nz shows

Realestate.co.nz has reported a listings surge throughout New Zealand. Photo / Chris Loufte

The number of houses for sale has surged throughout New Zealand and in Auckland in a pattern which could indicate the sign of a market change.

Data from realestate.co.nz showed the national number of listings in March exceeded those in February for only the second time in a decade.

Vanessa Taylor of realestate.co.nz said there were 13,069 residential properties listed for sale throughout New Zealand in March, up 10.8 per cent on March 2016, when there were 11,799 new listings.

In Auckland, 4700 new properties were listed for sale in March this year, up 20.5 per cent on the 3902 new listings in the same month last year, she said.

Listing growth was also in the double digits in the Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury, she said.

"It could well be that after the volatile nature of 2016, potential sellers have taken on board that the market has been relatively flat in the past few months.

"If they've been talking about making a move on the property ladder, whether up, down, or even out of the region, they may have more confidence that their next purchase will be in the context of a more stable price environment," she said.

New property listings in the Waikato region in March were also well up on February (11.7 per cent) but the total number of listings on the market were slightly down on the same time last year (-1.2 per cent), indicating a high turnover of properties, realestate.co.nz said.

Residential sales volumes and price information is due out soon from Quotable Value, Trade Me Property, Barfoot & Thompson and Harcourts. Around the middle of the month, information will be released on March activity from the Real Estate Institute.