Auckland Housing Market Recovery Arrives

The Auckland housing market has responded aggressively to improved buying conditions with turnover hitting the highest number of sales in a month for more than three years, and with prices at their highest this calendar year.

“The long-anticipated housing market recovery finally arrived in March,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“We sold 1213 properties in March, and you need to go back to July 2021, when the market was just off its peak, to find a month when we sold more homes.

“There was also a marked increase in sales prices during the month, with the median price increasing by 4.3 percent to $970,000 and the average price by 3.4 percent to $1,145,045.

“The momentum in the market has been slowly building since the start of the year, and with marginally better economic news in March confidence in the housing market lifted.

“Although both the median and average prices paid in March were at their highest this year, buyers continued to be cautious, and the prices being paid remain below where they were at this time last year.

“Higher sales number at modestly higher prices is a positive sign that improved market activity is likely to be sustained over the next few months.

“Buyer choice remains at an all-time high despite the high sales in March, and we listed 2103 new properties in the month through a combination of new builds reaching the market and existing properties.

“At month end we had 6268 properties on our books, by far the largest number of listings for 15 years.

“Sales activity was strong in all price segments during March, with a notable increase in sales at the top end of the market.

“We sold 28 homes for more than $3 million, the highest number in a month for three years and another 61 between $2 to $3 million.

“Sales activity in the rural and lifestyle markets in Northland and the Auckland region also increased significantly in March, with sales of close to $65 million across 39 properties.

“While turnover in the rural and lifestyle markets was up 48 percent on that for February, it was in line with turnover at the same time last year.”

Barfoot& Thompson knows Auckland best. It is the city’s leading real estate company, selling around one in three Auckland residential homes, significantly ahead of all other competitor brands.

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