West Coast joins the property price decline for the first time

For the past seven months, the national average asking price has fallen, including year-on-year drops in 14 of the 15 regions Trade Me monitors.

However, the West Coast, the country’s cheapest region, was an outlier, with asking prices continuing to increase despite drops everywhere else. That changed in May when the region’s average asking prices also dropped.

The affordability of the West Coast, which had an average asking price of $409,700 in May, gave it greater immunity to the property market drops, Gavin Lloyd, Trade Me’s property sales director says.

It has regularly topped data for the region with the best property yields across the country.