Auckland housing market out of hibernation, Barfoot & Thompson says
Auckland's largest real estate agency group, Barfoot and Thompson, has reported sales volumes jumped in March to a 20 month high as buyers "returned with a vengeance" and sellers accepted a slight fall in prices to clear the market.
“Certainly in March, the Auckland housing market emerged from its hibernation,” Barfoot and Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said in a statement titled ‘Buyers return to Auckland housing market with vengeance.’
Barfoot’s average sale price in March was NZ$491,780, down 5.8% from March 2008 and down 4.1% from February. It reported 924 sales, up 65.3% from February and up 46.2% from a year ago. The March average was down 8.7% from the peak average of NZ$538,478 in December 2007.
“We sold close to 300 homes more in March than in any month in the whole of 2008,” Thompson said.
Thompson said factors affecting March’s sales activity were the traditional March spike, further falls in the Reserve Bank OCR, bank mortgage rates reaching new lows and knowledge that tax cuts were about to kick in.
“A recovery of this order is greater than any expectation, and it may well contain an element of released intention,” Thompson said.
“Buyers may be sensing that market prices are close to the bottom of the cycle and have made the decision to act,” he said.
“At the same time sellers are accepting that a price that is on average only 6 percent below values being achieved 12 months ago is realistic in the current market, and are ready to accept.”
“It means that the market is active, and the housing market is edging further back to normality.”
“Another indicator of returning confidence is the level of interest shown at auctions. In March we saw our best attendance numbers for 12 months, and we sold some 65 to 70 percent of all the homes that we put to the market.”
“In February, we reported prices firmed on modest turnover, while this month turnover was extremely strong with prices coming off marginally.”
This article has kindly been republished courtesy of interest.co.nz.
To view this article and other news updates from
Posted: 3 Apr 2009
News articles
Browse articles
by date
