Auckland house prices were steady in July, according to the region's largest real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson.
The average price of homes sold by Barfoot in June was $719,312, which was under 1% higher than June's average price of $714,054, and $6,396 below the all time high of $725,708 achieved in March.
July sales volumes were down 150, or 13%, at 983 from 1,133 in July 2013, and down 54, or 5%, from 1,037 in June this year..
The July median price was $645,000, which was up $18,500, or 3%, from June 2014, and was $60,000, or 10%, higher than July 2013.
"Prices at present are best described as steady," Barfoot managing director Peter Thompson said.
"In April and May they edged down, and while they recovered some lost ground in June and again in July, prices have certainly not returned to those being achieved in March."
A feature of the market was the number of high end properties being sold.
"A stand out feature of July's trading was that we sold 169 homes for in excess of $1 million, which represents nearly one house in every six sold," Thompson said.
"Sales of homes in this price segment are currently running 28.7% ahead of where they were last year," he said.
At the lower priced end of the market, 29.4% of sales were for less than $500,000.
The agency reported that a shortage of new listings was once again becoming a feature of the market.
Thompson said the agency had 3,273 properties listed for sale at the end of July, the lowest number for seven months, with 1,396 new listings during July.
"We normally see new listings increase during August as vendors prepare to take advantage of the increase in sales activity as spring approaches.
"However, with a general election in September, the potential exists that trading in August may not follow the normal pattern as the market awaits the election outcome," he said.
Westpac's chief economist Dominick Stephens said the figures pointed to a sagging Auckland market.
"The supply of new listings to market continued to fall, but the paucity of sales was such that the availability of stock on the market rose slightly," Stephens said.
"There are now 3.6 months' worth of sales available on the market. This is low by historical standard, but is higher than a year ago, when there were just 2.7 months' supply on the market.
"This data points towards a steadily sagging Auckland housing market, contradicting evidence of a modest recovery we had detected elsewhere."
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18 Comments
doublegz ..... get with the program dude !! I want them to go way higher, so I can finally bail out !!
anyway, with this news watch John Key and his cronies try and influence the RB to hold or reduce interest rates, as they have to keep this AKL partaay a rockin' ...... !!
doublegz you are dreaming. Property prices in Auckland will continue to drive up once we are past the election. The whole country has slowed down especially retail as people do not want to committ themselves when times are uncertain. Once National are voted back into power in September things will improve again. Briscoes might be attaining record profits but companies like Noel Leeming and Harvey Norman who sell big ticket items are experiencing slow times.
...ah gordon maybe retai has slowed as all the cash is going into mortgages, rates, cost of living. If you think things will come 'right' after the elections good luck. I see the dollar dropping, gas increasing so even less cash around. Pray tell where the wanna be home buyer is going to find any, let alone more cash, to fund that home?
Rastus are you smoking that terrible green stuff again ?
Or are you just crystal balling the future through a haze of smelly Ganja smoke or green tinted glasses ?
If Labour get in we are in seriuos trouble all round , and your predictions may come true .
And forget about Kiwis buying homes , we are no longer a factor in that equation any more , its all about Mandarin and Cantonese speaking agents doing the selling to buyers who have access to 2% -3% funding in Hong Kong and Shanghai .
Kiwi's dont need to find the money to "fund that home " as you put it , they have been overtaken by events , and now they just need to find the rent every week .
Its bloody unfair , and not the Kiwi way of doing things
Id say we are in trouble which either side gets in. Dairy dropping is a big concern and aussie slowing.
The only thing priming this economy is the chch rebuild but even that is peaking at present.
A year from now things could be very grim for us if the US has not managed to pick itself back up off money printing
What with the freezing weather, wild winds, short dark days, LVR nonsense, higher interest rates plus the election wobbles, it's a wonder that anything is selling let alone being listed.
All booms have "breathers" and this is just one of them.
Just wait for spring, post elections and longer days and then stand back.
It ain't over yet.
LVRs wont be removed until rents come back into line with prices. For that to happen prices are going to have to flatten for a long time or wages are going to have to go up. I doubt wages are going to rise so this breather could be very long which is why ive sold out and are enjoying interest payed rather than paying interest and i dont have to pay more rates when the revaluations come in next year.
Bollard isnt going to move those LVRs at all and neither should he as the stability of the financial sector is his directive
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