Auckland house prices in October show steady price increase

November 5, 2013

Auckland house prices in October show steady price increase with strong sales numbers

October’s residential housing market sales figures for Auckland have shown no early signs of being restrained by the recent curbs placed by the Reserve Bank on mortgage lending.

“In October the average sales price compared to September increased by more than $5000 or 0.8 percent to $663,123 and the number of sales rose by 8.9 percent to 1203,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“The median price declined by $10,000 to $590,000.

“October’s trading was a repeat of the trend we have seen since March, that of the average price rising modestly, and strong sales.

“This outcome was totally expected.

“It could be up to six months before the market feels the full impact of the new mortgage lending regime, and certainly one month’s experience is not enough to make judgements about the success or otherwise of the initiative.

“In the main October’s residential sales are the end product of activity that would have commenced in September or even August.

“This time of the year is also the peak selling and buying season as people seek to resolve their housing situation before the summer holiday break.

“The stand out feature of October’s trading was that choice increased significantly.

“The number of new listings during the month was 2016, an increase of 23.2 percent on those for September, and the first time in more than five years new listings have exceeded 2000.

“At month’s end the number of available listings increased to 3646, a 14.3 percent increase on those for September, and the highest number in the last seven months.

“During the month we sold 457 homes for less than $500,000, up 20.6 percent on the number of homes in this price category in September, and such a significant increase in number may be an indication that a large number of first time home buyers committed to entering the housing market before the new rules took full effect.

“Sales in this price category make up 38 percent of all our October sales.

“Sales were also strong in the $1 million plus category, with 172 homes being sold at this level, the second highest number on record (the highest was in March this year when 186 homes sold for in excess of $1 million).”

The 12 month rolling increase in the average price now stands at 7.2 percent and that for the median price is an increase of 8.3 percent.

Ends

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