Houses 'going like hot cakes'

Soaring demand for affordable residential real estate is seeing frenzied bidding by first-home buyers packing auctions in Auckland suburbs.

Competition among buyers has increased as financing costs have fallen and the number of properties on the market has dropped.

Listings with Barfoot & Thompson, Auckland's largest real estate company, are at their lowest since December 2007.

A combination of factors this week has injected new urgency into bidding: Finance Minister Bill English is publicly mulling over increased taxes on property sales, interest rates are expected to rise, and an economics firm projected an 11 per cent jump in house prices in the coming year.

The auction of a renovated bungalow at 23 Brookfield Ave in Onehunga attracted around 80 people on Wednesday evening, with attendees spilling out and blocking the pavement.

Listing agent Dianne Nicholls said it was the type of property that appealed to young professional couples. "They're just going like hotcakes."

The high-demand $400,000 to $600,000 price bracket was experiencing an acute shortage of homes, she said.

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Posted: 16 Aug 2009

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