New Zealanders listed more than $115 billion worth of residential property for sale in 2024, and some of them are still waiting to find buyers.
Data from realestate.co.nz shows that the value of the property listed for sale lifted 19.4% year-on-year.
There were more than 110,000 new residential listings year-on-year, up 19,000 from the previous year.
Real Estate Institute data indicates there were just under 70,000 sales in the year.
The average asking price was consistent, down just 0.3% year-on-year.
Wellington had the biggest increase in new listings, with 8132 coming onto the market, up 37.3% compared to 2023.
“Personal circumstances would have been a factor for many choosing to sell in 2024. But greater price stability across the motu likely boosted vendor confidence in some regions,” said realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams.
Central Otago Lakes had the biggest increase in average asking price in the year, up 7%.
“The year prior, [2023], was our worst listing year in our 17-year history,” Williams said.
She said, interest rate cuts and improving business confidence had helped to turn that around, even while the labour market remained weak.
“$115b of property is a lot of property, especially given sometimes the increase in price is what drives it as a big number but the average asking price was give or take the same.
“I think it kind of sets us up in good stead for when activity does pick up.
“When you come back into the market, specifically as a buyer, you want choice, you don’t want to have to be competing with heaps of people in an open home.
“The property market will move again, if you’ve been trying to sell a house for two years it might not feel like things are going to change but it will change.”
She said some who listed in the year could have been stuck on the market for months.
Real estate salespeople reported that was usually because they had outdated price expectations, she said.
“We haven’t seen sales pick up at the same rate as listings. January to October sales were light but November sales were the highest since 2022.
“I do think, that drop in interest rates, the stability of prices for two years … people are like ‘I might get in now before the market does start to move'”.
The market was likely to be busier this year, Williams said.
“Providing all the key metrics we look at stay relatively consistent, there’s a good amount of stock, buyers are getting more serious … in the first 20 days of 2025, a healthy number of new listings have come on to the market already.
“Prices being stable is a good sign, there’s quite a bit of competition if you’re selling a house, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
“As buyers come back more strongly into the market as we see interest rates change, that’s where we’ll start to see the rubber hit the road.”
