Property Prices Fall In December

The national average asking price for a property fell in December ending a three month run of increases.

Trade Me Property’s Customer Director Gavin Lloyd said the average asking price for a property in New Zealand in December was $849,550, down from $854,900 in November.

“While the average asking price has dipped, both month-on-month (-0.6%) and year-on-year (-1.7%) the declines are modest and less than what we’ve seen at the same time of year in previous years,” says Mr Lloyd.

Auckland remains the most expensive region to purchase property with the average asking price in December coming in at $1,047,800, down slightly from $1,053,100 in November. Year-on-year prices have fallen $20,000 (-1.9%) in Tāmaki Makaurau.

The Bay of Plenty, which spent most of 2024 as the second most expensive region has been pushed into third position by Otago which registered an average asking price of $878,400 in December, compared to $869,800 for the Bay.

“If we look at the Otago region both Queenstown-Lakes and Wanaka are driving the increases with month-on-month growth of 6.3 per cent and 3.7 percent respectively. These

increases are in fairly stark contrast to the rest of the region which saw declines in the average asking price in December (MoM).”

“With the exception of Tauranga (+0.9%) and the Western Bay of Plenty (+0.8%), the average asking price fell across the wider Bay of Plenty region between November and December with Opotiki recording a month-to-month decline of close to 10 per cent.”

Big drop in demand

The demand for properties on the market experienced a substantial 30 per cent decline in December, the biggest drop across 2024.

Wellington (-39%), Christchurch (-35%) and Auckland (-34%) were most affected compared to November.

“We often see a seasonal impact on demand, particularly in December when Kiwi have other priorities heading into the festive season and summer holiday period. We can expect things to pick back up as buyers return to the market with renewed focus on finding a new property to call home,” says Mr Lloyd.

Nationwide, month-on-month supply was down by 14 per cent in December but up 17 per cent on December 2023.

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