The number of properties listed for sale in December was the lowest since Realestate.co.nz data began.
Spokesperson Vanessa Williams said although December was usually a slower month, the end to 2024 was "exceptionally lukewarm".
The national average asking price was the lowest since April 2021, at $842,476.
Williams said, historically, December listings numbers were about 30 percent lower than November but that had grown to 50 percent in recent years.
Last month, it was a drop of 60 percent.
"The property market always cools in December, but the end of 2024 was record-breakingly quiet."
Listings in Auckland during December were even lower than during the pandemic. Photo: 123RF
She real estate salespeople had told her that everyone had ended the year tired and many had opted to push new listings into the new year.
"Ten days into January we're already off to a good start with a hive of activity. It's typical if we have a really slow end of November, December."
Auckland recorded an all-time low for new listings in any month over the last 17 years, including during Covid-19.
The number of properties for sale was down 13.3 percent month-on-month. That meant the number for buyers to choose from dropped below 30,000 for the first time since August 2024.
But compared to a year earlier, the number of homes for sale was up 18.5 percent.
Williams said having more than 29,000 homes for sale still gave people a lot of options to choose from and that was likely to stop prices rising for the menatime.
Prices had been roughly stable for two years, she said.
"I still think there are a few people to come to market who have suppressed their desire to transact."
Eleven of the 19 regions the site tracks recorded an average price drop year-on-year.
The biggest were in Central Otago, down 17.3 percent to $1.325 million, the central North Island, down 11 percent to $708,350 and Bay of Plenty down 10.9 percent to $823,926.
In contrast, Southland bucked the trend with a 15.3 percent year-on-year increase to $549,211 - a record-high for December.