Auckland House Prices Edge Up While Supply Rises Sharply

There are currently more homes for sale in Auckland than at any time in the past decade.

“There is a log jam of homes for sale which is creating the largest buyers’ market we have seen since 2011,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“This buildup of homes started in August and in the last six months has reached the point where buyers have rarely had such a depth of choice.

“At month end we had 5382 homes on our books, the highest number of homes listed for nearly 13 years (since April 2011).

“In February alone we listed 2255 properties across first-time to market homes, owner occupied houses where the owner is looking to relocate and former investment properties.

“It is the highest number of properties we have listed in a single month since prices peaked in November 2021.

“The number of sales in February at 633 was a quarter higher than in January and up 54.4 percent on those for the same month last year. February is not traditionally a strong sales month, and this February’s sales were in line with where they were in 2019 before the market started to rise.

“The buildup of homes for sale is a combination of a high number of new homes reaching the market, owner-occupiers moving forward with relocation plans as the market re-emerges from the downward cycle and the normal hesitancy of buyers trying to get their timing right in terms of price and mortgage rate.

“When there are more homes for sale than active buyers, prices often retreat, but this is not the case currently and the homes we sold in February achieved prices marginally higher than in January.

“The median price at $970,000, was up 0.4 percent on that for January, and the average sales price of $1,116,150, was up 3 percent on January’s.

“The current median price is 2 percent above the low point of the price cycle which occurred in June and July last year and the average price is 5 percent higher.

“As usual in the first months of the year, top-end property sales remained low with only 5.5 percent of all sales (35 in number) being for more than $2 million in February. Greater interest in homes in this price category tends to build from March on.

“Rural and lifestyle sales continued their modest start to the year, with sales of close to $40 million in February, and were a quarter up on the same month last year.

“We listed a large number of lifestyle properties in February and anticipate a strong selling season through autumn.”

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