Rising Sales Keep Lid On Median Price -- Crockers

Rising Sales Keep Lid On Median Price

After months of steady rises, the residential sales median in Auckland flattened off to around $450,000 in May, driven, it seems, by higher than usual sales numbers.

Does this reflect concern amongst property owners at rapidly rising mortgage rates? Alternatively, it may be buyers simply "cashing up". In May last year, we noted that the median had reached $400,000 for the first time. Some investors may feel that the wave has now peaked. Time will tell if that judgement is correct or not.

In this edition, we compare Auckland statistics with those for other New Zealand cities. We conclude that Auckland is not alone in experiencing an ongoing surge in property sales prices. The chart below shows long term price trends for Auckland Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. While Auckland prices remain (predictably) highest, Christchurch and Wellington have easily kept pace in growth terms since around 2002.

View complete Crockers Market Research July 2007 [PDF]

ENDS

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