Far North, Thames-Coromandel, Kaipara, Clutha, Western Bay of Plenty and central Auckland house sellers were most willing to meet the market to sell their homes last year, data from CoreLogic shows.

It reveals the percentage median estimated discount from asking price that vendors accepted over the country in the year to the end of November, excluding properties that sold at auction.

In Upper Hutt, Ashburton, Porirua, Christchurch, Waimakariri, Selwyn and Hastings, vendors took a median three per cent discount from their asking price.

But in the areas, such as Far North and central Auckland, that were taking the steepest reductions, vendors were dropping their prices as much as seven per cent.

Kelvin Davidson, chief economist at CoreLogic, says all areas had some level of discounting, which was not a surprise given the market was soft for the first half of 2023.

The Real Estate Institute’s house price index was down 0.2 per cent year-on-year in November but was down by more than 10 per cent year-on-year through the middle of the year.

Trade Me data showed that in November, Auckland properties had asking prices 8.4 per cent below where they were a year earlier. Wellington asking prices were down 8.3 per cent but Christchurch’s were up 0.2 per cent.

Andre Castaing, an economist at ANZ, says sellers received a median $73,000 more than the asking price in late 2023.

But when the market was exceptionally tight in 2021, buyers paid sellers an extra $192,000 over their listing price for the median home.

David Cunningham, chief executive at Squirrel, says his team notes it's still a buyers’ market, despite prices starting to pick up.

“Negotiation really depends on how realistic the vendor's asking price is. What we are seeing is more realistic listing prices, and when that happens properties are moving. It’s those that are trying to get year-ago prices that are having to lower prices.

“As a general observation, houses are selling below rating valuation – quite often 5% to 10% below – and prices are still soft and buyers are getting good deals.

“When fixed home loan interest rates start falling materially – which should happen in the next month or two, prices may start to firm. With margins very wide at the moment, banks are likely to be quite negotiable on interest rates, so as a borrower, it’s worth asking.”

Ed McKnight, an economist at Opes Partners, says a comparison of the average sales price in a month and the average asking price the month before showed that sellers could shift anywhere from seven per cent to 15 per cent.

“This gives a very rough ballpark only, and appears to be on the high side of what I’d expect to see.”

He says sellers who set a reasonable price might not need to discount it at all. “It also depends on how quickly the seller want to sell.”

He says an apartment in central Auckland development, The Greenhouse, was listed with an asking price of $920,000 but took 20 months to be marked as sold.

“That means it took over 10 times longer to sell that apartment compared to the average apartment in Auckland City. In this case price was more important than time to sell, so the vendor (Ockham) has clearly decided to wait for the right buyer.”

-Susan Edmonds/Stuff.