More buyers than sellers will be entering the New Zealand property market in the next year, causing a shortage of houses to sell, new figures from realestate.co.nz show.

Research shows that 6.4 per cent of the adults 18 years or over surveyed nationwide are definitely looking to buy in the next 12 months, but only 2.8 per cent of people stated they are definitely looking to sell in that same period.

This equates to a shortage of around 3.6 per cent of homes across New Zealand, representing a significant number of properties currently not on the market, realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor says in a press release.

Buyer-seller ratio worse in Auckland

The figures were even worse for Auckland, where those looking to buy was at 9.5 per cent, but only 2.6 per cent intended to sell.

“This represents a widening gap between definite buyers and definite sellers,” Taylor says.

She says that in November the shortfall between definite buyers and definite sellers in Auckland represented around 9,000 homes.

“With more buyers saying they want to get into the market, the shortfall in the number of homes that would be required to meet that stated demand has widened to around 32,700,” Taylor says.

“Even taking into account new builds which are under way and not included in these numbers, there will be an increasingly serious shortage of properties for keen buyers.”

The average asking price for a New Zealand home is NZ$648,218, representing a 0.4 per cent decrease on April 2018.

The research surveyed 1345 people.

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