Press Release, Harcourts
For immediate release

Provisional housing market update

February 2017 Auckland

3 March 2017

In February, Harcourts sold 402 houses Auckland, which is up markedly on the 263 sold in January, a traditionally slow month in real estate.

However, Harcourts CEO Chris Kennedy says the number of houses is down compared to February 2016, when Harcourts sold 503 houses.

This drop can partially be ascribed to a fall away in the number of property investors, following the tougher loan to value rations introduced last November, Kennedy says.

“The incredibly heated market of 2015/2016 was not sustainable long-term and I believe we are returning to the healthy activity levels seen in 2014.”

Kennedy does not expect to see a dramatic drop in the market, particularly given Prime Minister Bill English has said immigration levels are about right.

“In the 12 months to January, we had a net gain of 71,305 migrants, and of those around 65,000 have chosen Auckland as their new home. New builds are not keeping up with our growing population, so existing houses will remain sought after.”

Harcourts’ provisional data shows houses across Auckland sold at an average price of $933,080 in February.

Comprehensive Harcourts statistics for February will be released on March 13.

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