The threat of rising mortgage interest rates had no impact on Auckland house sales activity in November, with prices continuing to rise and sales numbers edging closer to pre-Covid lockdown numbers.

“The Auckland market showed minimal concerns about impending interest rates rises and continued to work around the limitations imposed by the Covid lockdown,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“In recent months the trend had been a gradual decline in the rate at which prices were increasing but this stalled in November with the rate of increase edging up.

“Rather than seeing this as the start of a new cycle of higher increases, it is more likely to be a consequence of the abnormally high number of homes we sold in the higher price categories. Of the 1182 homes we sold, 960 (81.2 per cent of sales) were for more than $1 million, and of the 960, 216 were for more than $2 million.

“The average price for the month at $1,250,886 was up 5.2 per cent on that for October, and 18.5 per cent higher than at this time last year.

“The same movement was seen for the median price, which at $1,240,000, was up 7.8 per cent on October’s and 27.3 per cent higher than this time last year.

“Sales for the month at 1182 were the highest since the Covid lockdown was introduced in August but were still a quarter down on those for November last year, which was not restricted by lockdown regulations.

“A feature of the month’s trading was the growth in the number of new listings we brought to market.

“At 2724 for the month, it was a third higher than last month and 16.7 per cent higher than in November last year.

“With a further easing of trading restrictions in December, the Auckland housing market is now close to returning to the point where normal supply and demand factors are the major influencers on trading.

“At month end we had 3933 homes on our books, close to where the market was at this time last year.

“Rural and lifestyle markets have been affected by the changes trading banks have made to the way they are assessing and approving mortgage lending in non-urban areas. The criteria are not necessarily tighter, but the process has reduced the number of buyers in the market.

“Listings in the rural and lifestyle markets have increased this month compared to the middle part of the year with buyer interest mainly focused on quality homes on 1 ha sites or larger 20 ha plots.”

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