House listings skyrocket post-Christmas hiatus

The first two weeks of January saw a big increase in the number of new listings

House listings skyrocket post-Christmas hiatus

The property market has recovered from the Christmas hiatus as house listings skyrocketed in the first two weeks of January, according to realestate.co.nz.

Spokesperson Vanessa Taylor said the site recorded 2,624 new listings between January 01 and 14, an increase on the 2,191 new listings recorded over the same period last year.

The Auckland region had 1,019 new listings in the first two weeks of the year, a significant increase from the 621 in the first weeks of 2020. However, the Wellington region only saw a small increase in new listings compared to last year – from 157 in early 2020 to 164 this month.

Overall, the new listings look healthy, and the market is roaring back to life already, said Taylor.

“But I’d caution that the ongoing shortage of housing stock and the high level of demand, which has increased exponentially, means those new listings are just getting swallowed up,” she continued, as reported by Stuff.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said the market was heating up quickly, and they had received 460 new listings in Auckland in the first two weeks of January.

“Still, our first lot of auctions kick off next week, and it will be interesting to see how they go,” he continued, as reported by Stuff.

The Ray White Group’s agencies new listings also increased by 11.11% in the first two weeks of 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to the Ray White Now report. However, sales over the same period also increased compared to last year, which means Kiwis have been quickly snapping up the new housing stock.

A Real Estate Institute New Zealand (REINZ) spokesperson said January is usually a slow month for the housing market, but this year is different as more auctions have been scheduled this month compared to January 2020.

“This is quite unusual and indicates the market has started to pick up earlier than it normally does after the Christmas break,” the spokesperson told Stuff.

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