Auckland Housing Prices Shrug Off Winter Concerns

Auckland house prices shrugged off the normal winter downturn, concerns about increasing prices and warnings of possible future interest rate rises in July.

“Mounting concerns about the prices being paid and possible future interest rate increases did nothing to dampen July trading,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

Sales for the month were a healthy 1235, with the average and median prices paid being more than 20 percent higher than they were 12 months ago.

“The average price at $1,183,602 was 3.5 percent higher than June’s average and was 5.3 percent higher than what we have been averaging for the past three months.

“The median price at $1,101,000 was down 0.7 percent on that for June, but 2.2 percent higher than the average median price for the previous three months.

“The winter months are normally a time when market activity slows, and prices and sales can edge lower.

“However, there are no signs of that occurring this year.

“At month end we had only 2629 on our books, our lowest for any month in more than 5 years, and our lowest in the middle of winter in modern times.

“Although new listings at 1349 in July were down modestly in comparison to recent months, they were in line with those in July for most of the past 10 years.

“The market is not suffering a lack of new listings. They are holding up well. We are simply selling all that we list promptly, at premium prices to a large pool of committed buyers.

“High prices are not proving a deterrent to top end property, and we sold 118 homes for more than $2 million in the month – more than double the number we sold in June last year.

“The rural and lifestyle markets also experienced solid trading activity, posting more than $106 million in sales for the month.

“Vendors in these markets tend to wait for spring to list but the high number of buyers in the rural and lifestyle markets at present has seen many vendors bringing forward their sales intentions, leading to an excellent level of new listings.

“For winter, the prices being paid are at premium levels.”

Barfoot& Thompson knows Auckland best.It is the city’s leading real estate company, selling around one in three Auckland residential homes, significantly ahead of all other competitor brands.

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