Auckland property prices fall 4.7 pc in 2008

Sales figures released today by Auckland's biggest real estate company show that property prices did indeed fall last year - but not as much as many observers predicted.

Barfoot & Thompson's average sale price for the 12 months to December 2008 was $513,597, compared to $538,478 for 2007. That represents a drop of 4.7 per cent.

Managing Director Peter Thompson said the market ended the year on a high note with more sales clocked up in the company's final week of trading for 2008 than for any other week during the year.

Barfoot & Thompson closed off the month on Friday 19 December and 227 sales were recorded for that week, compared to an average of 171 per week throughout the year. The average sale price for the month of December was $509,513, up 1.7 per cent from November.

Thompson credits the Reserve Bank's action in cutting interest rates as the reason for the upswing. "We've certainly seen an improvement in the market since the Reserve Bank's most recent move. It seems to have tipped the balance in terms of converting interested parties into committed buyers."

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Posted: 12 Jan 2009

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