September 04, 2013
Media Statement

Auckland housing activity increases but prices remain stable

The average price for an Auckland home has barely changed over the past five months.

Barfoot & Thompson’s average sales price in August was $647,647, more than $6700 lower than in July and more than $2200 lower than in June.

“For the past five months the average sales price for Auckland houses has remained constant,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“After a rapid increase in the first quarter of the year, prices have settled down, and there has been no upward pressure on prices for the past two months.

“This is confirmed by August’s median house price, which at $561,500 is down 4 percent on the median price for July, and down 4.8 percent on June’s median price.

“August’s median price is right in line with that for November last year, suggesting prices have remained stable for nine months.

“What did change in August was that there was greater choice for buyers than there has been for some months.

“New listings in August at 1710 were excellent, and were up 4.5 percent on those for July.

“August’s new listings were the second highest in a month so far this year, and were 20.7 percent higher than at the same time last year.

“Sales in August were also strong, and at 1200 were up 5.9 percent on those for July and 18.1 percent higher than in August last year.

“It added up to an extremely active market, but with prices restrained.

“At month’s end we had 2999 properties on our books. While this is relatively low, it was the highest number for three months.”

A feature of August’s trading was a drop in the number of homes that sold for in excess of $1 million.

“We sold 118 homes for more than a million during the month, well down from July’s 152 and the 144 in both May and June.

“There was a far greater focus on the under $500,000 market, with 523, or 43.6 percent of all sales, being in this segment.”

ENDS

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