The index, launched today, shows asking prices reached a high of $491,050 in March before falling to $487,650 in September, which was virtually the same price as was recorded in August.

Trade Me Property head Nigel Jeffries said the 0.1% increase in asking prices between August and September was very different to the trend of earlier in the year. “We saw the change in asking price up more than 5% in March, and there was 3% month-on-month lifts in both February and April. It’s a sign that the market is in a sustained period of quiet time.”

He said looking at long-term data provided more evidence that the market was cooling. “We looked back to September 2009 and compared this with September 2014 and we’ve seen asking prices rise by 26% over that period. A good chunk of that rise has been over the past two years but in recent months we’ve seen that pace of increase all but stutter to a halt.”

Properties with one or two bedrooms had the biggest year-on-year increase in asking price, up 15% in September compared to the same time a year earlier.

The biggest properties, those with five or more bedrooms had slower growth, with asking prices up 9%.

Auckland’s average asking price across all property types was $647,800 in September, up just over 10% on September 2013.

Wellington’s September average was $426,150, up 6.8% and Christchurch’s was $434,500, up 12%.

Taranaki reported a 23% increase in asking price year-on-year, followed by Gisborne with 19%.

Only the West Coast had a drop in asking price between 2013 and 2014, down 9.5%.