New Zealand property prices have dropped for a fifth consecutive month, newly-released figures from Trade Me suggest.
The figures show the national average asking price saw another drop in August - falling 1 percent to $899,200.
New Zealand's average asking price hadn't been below $900,000 since October 2021.
"Prices are falling as a direct result of sky-high supply paired with comparatively low demand, taking the pressure off buyers and forcing sellers to lower their price expectations," Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd said.
"August was the second month in a row where prices jumped by less than 10 percent year-on-year, which is remarkable coming out of two years of consistent double-digit price growth."
Treasury's Budget economic and fiscal update in May showed house prices were expected to rise by 5.8 percent this year before dropping by 2.5 percent in 2023. That follows an increase of 29.7 percent last year.
Rising interest rates and inflationary pressures have been contributing to cooling the housing market, experts have said. The Reserve Bank last month hiked the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 3 percent - its seventh-successive interest rate rise.
Thursday's Trade Me data also showed Wellington, Nelson/Tasman, Taranaki and West Coast were the regions that saw the largest monthly decreases in average asking prices.
Additionally, the data showed the number of properties for sale across the country had soared year-on-year by 76 percent.
Wellington
The Trade Me data showed the average asking price in Wellington was $875,700, down nearly 4 percent in a month.
Supply in the region was up 98 percent year-on-year.
In Wellington City specifically, its average asking price fell to $1.003 million, Trade Me said. That was a month-on-month drop of 4 percent.
Auckland
The Auckland region's asking price was $1.13 million in August, up just 2 percent year-on-year.
"This is the smallest jump we have seen since February 2020," Lloyd said.
Asking prices in the Super City were also down 2.5 percent from July.
North Shore was the most expensive suburb at $1.35 million followed by Rodney ($1.28m) and Auckland City ($1.23m).
Demand was stable while supply was up 61 percent year-on-year.
August's most popular property in Auckland was a four-bedroom, two-bathroom Waitakere property. Its estimated value on realestate.co.nz was $1.72 million.
