New listings pickup in September but still lagging - Barfoot

Spring was marked by a lift in new listings in the Auckland residential real estate market and September sales were the highest for that month in three years, according to the city's largest realtor, Barfoot & Thompson.

“After a relatively quiet winter, the expectation was that, with the arrival of spring, we would see house sale activity increase and the market did not disappoint,” said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson.

The realtor gained 1,204 new listings in September, versus 1,052 in August but down from 1,709 in September last year.

It sold 771 properties in September, 3.4 percent more than it sold in August and 6.8 percent more than it sold in the same month a year earlier.

“It is the highest number of homes we have sold in September for three years. Attendances at auctions during the month were up, as was the number of sales under the hammer,” said Thompson.

However, while new listings improved in September, the main barrier to higher sales numbers continues to be the lack of listings to meet demand, he said.

"At the end of September, we had only 3,694 properties on our books, the lowest number in 32 months. You need to go back to 2016, when the market was at its most active, to see the number of properties for sale so low.

“With restricted choice and increased competition on the auction floor, or post-auction, there was no pressure on prices to decline,” he said.

The median sale price at $850,000 was up 2.4 percent on the previous month and was 3 percent higher than for the same month last year.

“Conversely, the average sales price for the month at $922,863 was less than 1 percent lower than that for the previous month and for the same month last year,” he said.

Ten percent of all sales were for less than $500,000, 31 percent sold between $500,000 and $750,000, and 30.1 percent sold in excess of $1 million.

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