A monthly property report has revealed that since January, house sellers have reduced their costs to the lowest level, since huge numbers of houses stay unsold moving towards winter.

According to property website Realestate. co. nz, the standard asking cost was down 3.6 percent in May to $407,349, in contrast with April,

Chief Executive Alistair Helm said that with the huge number of houses staying unsold, about 46.9 weeks would be needed in order to sell the 51,980 properties on the market.

"Last year we were in a similar situation, but it was the volume of sales that decreased. This year it's price," Mr. Helm said.

A year back new listings increased 17 percent, but plunged 4 percent from April to 11,733.

He said that until now there has been no proof that the Government's funds on May 20, making property venture less striking, had had any outcome on asking price.

It is said that the asking price was up 1.5 percent in May on a year back, even though it was still 5 percent lower than the market's peak in October 2007.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand partially owns the Realestate. co. nz, with six real estate Companies possessing the rest.