The property listing website’s May data shows that Auckland’s total housing stock is now up 50.8% as compared to the same time last year.

Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Taylor said the city’s housing stock first started to increase in August 2016, which was the beginning of the slowing of the market.

At the same time, Auckland’s average asking price has stabilised – albeit at a high level.

May’s average asking price came in at $962,196 but it hasn’t gone up by more than 1% per month since September 2016.

“The cumulative effect means that potential buyers are more likely to be able to find a house they want, with more choices on offer and less competitive pressure than we saw in 2016,” Taylor said.

However, it seems that the Auckland region’s slower market could be the start of a new market trend.

Taylor said the last time they saw an increase in total housing stock in a region outside of Auckland was back in October 2015.

But now Realestate.co.nz’s data shows that four other regions saw a lift in total housing stock in May, as compared to the same time last year.

Housing stock in the Waikato was up by 18.9% while the Bay of Plenty saw a 5.1% increase in stock.

Both Wellington and Canterbury also saw growth in the amount of stock on market, with increases of 13.2% and 4.1% respectively.

While the remaining 14 regions all experienced a fall in housing stock in May, nationally the total number of homes for sale went up by 4% as compared to May 2016.

Additionally, the rise in stock in Auckland, Wellington, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty coincided with a fall in demand in those regions.

Of New Zealand’s 19 regions, these four sit at the bottom of the demand table and are the only areas which show a drop in demand.

Demand for housing in Auckland has fallen the most: it is down by 28.7%.

But in Wellington demand has fallen by 14.1%, in the Waikato region it is down by 13.3% and in the Bay of Plenty it has dropped by 8.7%.

Conversely, Canterbury was the only one of the main centres to see an increase in total housing stock but not a decrease in demand.