Auckland property prices steady in July

6 August 2007

Auckland property prices steady in July

Auckland’s leading real estate company Barfoot & Thompson says average house sale prices increased a modest 1.7% during July signalling a steady and settled market.

Barfoot & Thompson sells more residential property in Greater Auckland than any other real estate agency, which means its sales data is a good indicator of what’s happening in the market place.

Director Peter Thompson says the overall picture is stable, but there are some early signs that the recent mortgage rate interest rises are beginning to have an affect with July sales totalling 899, compared to 1,000 the previous month.

Director Peter Thompson says although the total number of sales for July is on par with the same month last year, the week by week analysis of sales during the month is probably more informative. “For three out of the four weeks during July total sales were behind the comparable week last year, and a drop off was particularly noticeable in the last two weeks of the month.”

Mr Thompson says it’s important not to overstate the impact that interest rate rises might be having as there were two other important factors during the month - the July school holidays and the particularly bad weather that Auckland experienced.

The July average sale price was $546,773, up from $537,671 in June but below the high of $557,546 achieved in May. There was also a pleasing flow of new listings onto the market during the month (1,671) giving buyers a good range of new stock to choose from.”

On the property management front, it was a very busy month for our rentals team with a total of 689 houses and units let compared to 586 the previous month. However, the average weekly rent eased back a little to $367 (from $375 in May and $373 in June).

ENDS

© Scoop Media