A real estate listing website says the fall in new property listings for January confirms the sluggish state of the property market.
January is traditionally the month more houses go on the market to take advantage of summer.
But realestate.co.nz reported that 77 fewer properties were listed last month than in December.
The website's chief executive Alistair Helm says the property market is pretty sluggish at the moment.
He says those selling in the market are happy to sit and wait and do not feel the need to have to sell and move on.
However, buyers are still out there. In January, 5000 houses sold, which is 170 properties a day.
Mr Helm says buyers biding their time right now are in a window of opportunity, which will close with expected mortgage rate increases later in the year.
