Source: Radio New Zealand
How much are house sellers willing to move on their asking prices? RNZ
How much are house sellers willing to move on their asking prices?
About $30,000, if new data from Realestate.co.nz is anything to go by.
The real estate listings site said sellers who reduced their asking price in the first quarter of this year did so by an average $33,212.
Regionally, Coromandel recorded the largest average drop, with sellers trimming $72,049 from their original asking prices.
Wellington followed at $51,841, while Northland, Central Otago/Lakes District, and Auckland rounded out the top five with average reductions of $39,353, $38,774, and $37,975, respectively.
In total, the combined asking price of properties was reduced by $54.7 million in the quarter.
But that is a smaller drop than has been seen in the past, which spokesperson Vanessa Williams said could indicate that sellers’ expectations were closer to buyers’ from the outset.
In the first quarter of last year, the average drop per listing was $37,393. The year before, it was $42,864.
‘I think that it’s promising to see that that is dropping over time. We started pulling this data about two years ago and at that time we were having well over $100 million drop in a quarter of the asking prices, so it certainly has come down in terms of the total number, and it’s also come down at a per property basis as well.”
She said there was a lot of uncertainty in the market, given the potential for interest rates to rise, geopolitical tensions and the election later this year.
Williams said when the number of listings increased, you could expect to see more vendors dropping their price in response to increased competition, but that had not been the case in the first quarter of 2026.
“More listings would normally mean more discounting, but that’s not the case this quarter. The data tells us that sellers are reading the room and pricing their properties closer to what buyers are willing to pay.”
She said the national average asking price had been flat for about three-and-a-half years, which could indicate prices were as low as they would go.
“The reality of it is, there is just a bottom to every market, despite what laws of supply and demand happen, it feels like about $850,000 nationwide is sort of what people expect or will pay for a property here in New Zealand. I mean, three-and-a-half years is a long time to have that stable national asking price.”
Nationally, 4.9 percent of all listings were reduced in the first quarter.
Manawatu/Whanganui had the highest proportion, at 12 percent, followed by Northland at 11 percent.
At the other end of the scale, Auckland and Canterbury recorded the lowest levels, with just 2 percent of listings reducing their price.
“What this shows is that conditions can vary significantly across the country,” Williams said.
“In some regions, sellers are still needing to adjust more often, while in others, pricing is more stable. Ultimately, it reinforces that getting the price right from the start is key.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
