Buyers are expected to see a clear picture of the market by September or October
Average asking prices in Southland have plummeted in July, according to property website RealEstate.co.nz.
Southland's average asking prices jumped to $415,094 in June compared to only $380,784 in May. However, the latest data by the RealEstate.co.nz found that average asking prices in Southland dropped by 3.4% in July to $400,944.
Vanessa Taylor, the spokesperson for RealEstate.co.nz, explained that the drop in prices last month might have been the market evening itself out. On the bright side, the national average property asking price increased by 3.9% in July to $756,250.
“You can't talk to trends after just one month,” Taylor told Stuff.co.nz. “The question around what’s going to happen is on everyone's lips.”
Graeme Hegan, the sales manager for lifestyle and rural at Southland Real Estate, commented that drop in activity in Southland is typical during winter – with July and August considered as “crunch months.”
Read more: Real estate market returns to normalcy
Meanwhile, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ)'s latest Million Dollar Price Report found that the number of million-dollar property sales increased by 11.7% for the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year – with 5,426 million-dollar properties sold.
Bindi Norwell, the chief executive of REINZ, said the demand for properties and shortage of housing stock affected house prices and therefore increased the number of million-dollar homes.
“The top end of the market seems to have also benefitted from the flow-on effect, seeing a 30.7% increase in the $3 million-plus category and a 38.5% increase in the $5 million-plus category nationally,” Norwell said.
“Regardless of the difficulties faced over the last few months with COVID-19 and the lockdown period, the first half of 2020 still outperformed the first half of 2019 when it comes to $1 million-plus sales.”
