Barfoots' house sales up 65% in August; prices up 5% in a month

A mood of quiet confidence that now is the time to act has taken hold in the Auckland property market, Auckland’s largest real estate group Barfoot and Thompson said.

Managing Director Peter Thompson said Barfoots sold 830 properties in August, which was up 6.5% from July and up 65.3% from August 2008. Barfoot’s average sale price in August was up 5% from July to NZ$532,023, although this was more a “timing adjustment than related to values,” Thompson said. The average sale price in August was up 1.5% from last year.

“The average price in August is below that achieved in May, and 2 percent ahead of June, which suggests July’s average was on the light side,” he said.

“Keen interest has returned to the Auckland market,” he said. “Buyers feel prices are attractive, they can afford the repayments, and are comfortable about their future job prospects.”

“However, it’s not a case of the market taking off. Rather, the mood is one of quiet confidence that the time has arrived to act.”

“Buyers remain restrained and selective, but are committed to completing transactions, and this is lifting market activity across all geographical areas.”

Barfoots listed 1,309 properties during August, the second consecutive month listings had been above 1,300, Thompson said.

“A factor preventing the Auckland housing market returning to a nice balance is the low number of properties for sale,” he said.

“At the start of September we had only 5212 properties on our books, the lowest number for 19 months.”

“Given current high sales activity, we would anticipate more sellers will now enter the market.”

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Posted: 3 Sep 2009

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