The residential property market in the Marlborough/Kaikoura region appears to have stabilised in the last 3 months after declining steadily for the previous 9 month period. An analysis of the past year sales data from REINZ indicates the median sale price rolling annual % change has declined from 6% growth in the year to August 2008 to -7.9% in the year to August 2009 as the graph indicates.

Median sale price is the midpoint price of all of the sales which transact in any particular month. The median should not be confused with the average sale price. Variations in the median sale price can be significant from one month to the next. Factors such as the number of sales and the market segment from which those sales are derived determine the median sale price. The median has stabilised at around $305000 for the past 3 months.

Another indicator of a stabilising market is the time it takes to sell a property. The period to sell has risen from 38 days in August 2008 to 51 days in May 2009 but has stabilised around 50 days for the last 3 months also.