Surge in listings reshapes market
The surge in available listings in New Zealand’s residential housing market is reshaping buyer options, with relocating owner-occupiers showing early signs of a comeback, according to CoreLogic NZ.
Figures from CoreLogic NZ’s May Housing Chart Pack revealed the share of property purchases by movers edged up to 27% in April from 26% in Q1 2024.
Increased activity among movers
Kelvin Davidson (pictured above), CoreLogic’s chief property economist, noted that pent-up demand is driving more owner-occupiers to shift.
“Movers have been relatively quiet in recent years... life doesn’t stop, and with listings activity relatively strong in 2024, it would appear that a pent-up reluctance to list among homeowners... is now coming forward and turning into available stock this year,” Davidson said in a media release.
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CoreLogic on market impact and predictions
Davidson doesn’t anticipate that increased activity among owner-occupiers will crowd out other buyer groups.
“It’s early days for any re-emergence of movers’ demand, but looking ahead, they could be a group to watch as financial conditions start to ease with mortgage rates tipped to fall in 2025,” he said.
May Housing Chart Pack highlights
The latest data from CoreLogic NZ's May Housing Chart Pack provides key insights into New Zealand's residential real estate market.
- New Zealand’s residential real estate market is worth a combined $1.63 trillion.
- Average property values increased by 0.6% in the three months to April.
- Wellington and Dunedin saw the strongest growth among main centres.
- April sales volumes increased for the 12th consecutive month, 15% higher than April 2023.
- Total stock on the market is 27% higher than the five-year average.
- National rental growth slowed to 4.2% in the year to April but remains historically high.
- Gross rental yields nationally are at 3.2%, the highest level since late 2020.
- Around 60% of NZ’s existing mortgages by value are due to reprice onto a new, generally higher, mortgage rate over the next 12 months.
For more details, download the May Housing Chart Pack.
CoreLogic also recently released its Pain & Gain report, where it noted a slight deterioration in the resale performance of residential real estate, and its First Home Buyer Report, where it revealed that first-home buyers accounted for 26% of property purchases in Q1 2024 in New Zealand.
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