New Zealand's real estate moves into buyers' market first in decade

Wellington (New Zealand), October 3: The national average asking price of New Zealand's residential sale is down 7.2 percent since its peak in January, the first time the market has moved into a buyers' market in a decade.
A report of New Zealand's major property website, realestate.co.nz, released on Monday, said inflation, interest rate hikes, and speculation of a property market crash are enough to make homeowners nervous, especially if they are looking to sell.
The latest data from realestate.co.nz showed since the national average asking price peaked in January at 992,659 NZ dollars (557,790 U.S. dollars), it has decreased by 7.2 percent to 921,187 NZ dollars (517,629 U.S. dollars) in September 2022.
Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, says the market is "cooling rather than crashing."
The national average asking price has decreased by around 10,000 NZ dollars (5,616 U.S. dollars) per month since January. If this cooling continues at the same pace, the national average could be around 890,000 NZ dollars (499,864 U.S. dollars) in December, Williams said.
"Even if prices continue to trend down until Christmas, it only takes asking prices back to mid-2021 levels," a time when prices in the late 800,000 NZ dollars (449,316 U.S. dollars) were all-time highs, she said.
She adds that the market is cyclical and suggests this is a levelling out of the market following the pandemic's disruption over the last two years.
Source: Xinhua