“.. House prices are set to fall as the property market heads into what could be a winter of discontent for homeowners.
A flood of properties being listed for sale in February has prompted warnings that it could swamp the market and bring an end to the resurgence in prices which occurred last year.
Alistair Helm, the chief executive of property website realestate.co.nz, said 15,129 homes were listed for sale on the website in February, a massive 47% increase on January’s listings.
Helm said there was usually a listing increase in February, but last month’s surge was “exceptional”.
This was compounded by the fact that the number of sales had tailed off dramatically at the end of last year, and in January hit their lowest in nearly 20 years.
Real Estate Institute figures showed there were 3666 houses sold in January, down from 4957 in December, and 6056 in November.
The combination of a big increase in the number of homes for sale and a decline in the number being sold was creating a mountain of “inventory”.
At the current rate of sales it would take 48 weeks to clear all of the homes listed on realestate.co.nz, up from 34 weeks in December, Helm said.
There were also indications that vendors were listing properties at unrealistically high prices ..
.. making it even more difficult for them to sell..”
go to source/story>>House prices set to slide | Stuff.co.nz
