July 2017 housing market update

Mid-winter chill keeps Auckland vendors and buyers at home

A combination of winter blues, school holidays, and the impending election has resulted in fewer sales and new listings throughout Auckland during July.

“Winter traditionally sees a slowing in the market and this winter has been no different,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“It can be hard to make even the best attributes of your home shine when the weather is miserable; that alongside school holidays and the uncertainty an election always brings, has led to some vendors holding off putting their home on the market.

"Notwithstanding, over the past month the company wrote up on average 220 sales each week of July showing that there are still plenty of buyers in the market.

“In July we listed 1173 new properties, which is the lowest number for the same month in the past seven years, and 25 percent lower than in June.

“Despite fewer new listings, by the end of the month we had 4088 available listings, 36 percent higher when compared to July last year and down only 5 percent from June.

“At the same time, sales numbers at 747 meant this was the quietest July since 2010.

“Without question it will take some time for both buyers and vendors to navigate the changing market. Opportunities for vendors to sell are still plentiful, however sellers need to be willing to set themselves realistic expectations and listen to what the market is telling them.

“Vendors are less likely to see quick sales and significantly above average price increases, in the short term at least. However, this is still a good time to buy and sell in Auckland, given what are relatively small market movements. 

“In this type of market, people are motivated by the more fundamental reasons to move house such as a growing family, change of job or downsizing. This could be seen as a return to house sales being influenced by those more traditional factors.

“There was little change in the average sales price across Auckland during July. At $908,319 it represented a 5 percent increase when compared to the same period last year and down 0.6 percent from the previous month.

“The median price was down 4 percent when compared to the average median price for the previous three months.”

“Sales across the region were on the whole representative of the diverse mix of housing stock available.  Sales below $750,000 accounted for just over a third of all sales during the month, while sales over $1 million accounted for 257 or 35 percent of sales.