December real estate sales very slow; REINZ sees a comeback "not too far off"

"December sales figures confirm what everybody knows: the residential real estate market has slipped back to where it was a few years ago." said REINZ national president Mike Elford. "If you look back, these sales numbers and length of time to sell are consistent with the statistics from December 1999 and 2000." he said. The number of homes sold nationwide in December was 4,302, 23% down on the 5,597 sold in the same period in 2007, but slightly up on November sales of 4,279. The national median house price for December was $328,500 compared with $337,500 in November and $345,000 for the corresponding period in 2007. This represents a decline of 4.8% compared with the same month a year earlier, and a fall of 6.7% from the peak in November 2007. In the key Auckland market, the number of homes sold was 1,269 which was the lowest for any month since at least 1996 (since we started recording these numbers). No other region recorded its historic-low volumes in December. Last week, Barfoots reported making 461 of these Auckland sales. On this very low volume, the Auckland median price rose to $440,000. Regionally, three districts held or increased their dwelling price medians (Wellington, Taranaki and Central Otago Lakes). Of the other districts, the biggest drops were seen either in holiday destinations, or districts where prices soared over past two or three years including Nelson/Marlborough (-11.24%) and Southland (-13.08%). Elford commented, "Anyone who has been in real estate for any length of time will have come to expect the peaks and troughs of property market cycles. But of course we are also contending with the world's worst economic figures for 40 years and I wonder how much world events are dictating what is happening here." "The forthcoming Government Economic Summit will be looking at ways of encouraging positivity in the economy and housing is always a good way to get things going. Lower interest rates and tax cuts will increase people's confidence and with Government commitment to further liquidity, I believe we can expect to see a market comeback not too far off." REINZ sales figures are recorded on the day a transaction is concluded, and are based on actual sales reported by real estate agents. These sales are taken as of the date that a transaction becomes unconditional. You can find the chart for Days To Sell in our new format (beta release) here >>> and the chart for Median Prices (also beta version) here >>>