Newly-released figures from Trade Me have revealed New Zealand is seeing its largest drop in property prices on record.
The figures show the national average asking price saw a record-breaking drop in June - falling 3 percent, or $24,500 in just four weeks, to $925,150.
New Zealand's average asking price hadn't been that low since October last year.
The only regions to buck the trends were Otago and Taranaki, which saw their average prices jump by 2 percent.
"After creeping closer to the $1 million mark over the past 12 months, we're now seeing the national average asking price retreat, sitting significantly lower than the all-time high of $971,450 we saw in March," Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd said.
"In the Auckland region, the average asking price fell 4 percent month-on-month, while the Wellington region was not far behind with a 3 percent drop.
"Going forward we may see prices drop even further if supply remains high and demand is comparatively low, which will be music to the ears of those looking to buy around the country."
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.
"With supply surging for three months in a row, buyers are no longer feeling the pressure and can afford to take their time and look at their options," Lloyd said.
Rising interest rates and inflationary pressures have been contributing to cooling the housing market, experts have said. The Reserve Bank last week hiked the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 2.5 percent - its sixth-successive interest rate rise.
On Wednesday, the Real Estate Institue of New Zealand said regions including Wellington, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu/Whanganui had seen annual decreases in national median house prices.
Additionally, CoreLogic data earlier this month showed national median property values fell month-on-month by 0.8 percent in June.
Wellington
The Trade Me data showed the average asking price in Wellington was $936,300, down 3 percent in a month.
Supply in the region was up 93 percent year-on-year, while the demand for property only rose by 1 percent.
In Wellington City specifically, its average asking price fell to $1.05 million, Trade Me said. That was a month-on-month drop of 1 percent.
Auckland
The Auckland region's asking price was $1.18 million in June, up 9 percent year-on-year but down 3.6 percent from May.
"This is the first month the region has seen a year-on-year increase below 10 percent since March 2021," Lloyd said.
Waiheke Island was the most expensive Auckland suburb at $1.66 million, followed by North Shore ($1.42m) and Rodney ($1.32m).
Demand dropped 14 percent year on year while supply was up 40 percent.
June's most popular property in Auckland was a four-bedroom, five-bathroom CBD property. Its estimated value on OneRoof was $2.76 million.
