Mortgagee listings jump outside Auckland

Chart supplied by interest.co.nz

The slump in the housing market is now rippling out beyond Auckland into the smaller cities, data from the latest interest.co.nz survey of mortgagee listings show.

Total mortgagee listings hit a record 332 by Monday June 16, up 12.9 per cent from the previous week and up nearly 60 per cent since the beginning of March. Most of the increase was recorded outside of Auckland, where mortgagee listings in smaller cities accelerated much faster than in New Zealand's biggest city.

Mortgagee listings in Auckland have made up nearly 55 per cent of total mortgagee listings in previous months, but that portion has dropped to 50 per cent in the last week.

There were 168 listings in Auckland as of Monday, up from 157 the previous week and 91 when we started the survey in early March. The number of listings outside Auckland jumped to 164 from 137 the previous week and is up from 120 in early March.

Many of the mortgagee listings have been triggered by collapses in finance companies where receivers have forced mortgagee sales on residential development projects and investment apartments in Auckland. That trend now appears to be spreading outside the main centre.

- INTEREST.CO.NZ