2020 is starting off strong with record sales in Auckland and a slight rise in house prices. Here’s what you need to know:
January Continues Upward Trend in Market
It seems that the holiday break didn’t shake the market comeback, with January having similar success as the previous two months. Auckland’s largest agency Barfoot & Thompson had an incredible start to the year, selling 678 residential properties in January, up 3.8% on January 2019 and up 14.3% on January 2018.
Prices also held strong with a median selling price of $885,000 being at the top end of its recent range and just below the March 2017 record of $900,000. Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson commented that the strong activity and prices stating, “Buyers were active across all price segments and were prepared to pay near record prices. January’s trading confirmed the signs seen in November and December trading, which pointed to the Auckland housing market entering a new growth cycle.”
New listings also rallied, with the agency receiving 1080 new listings in January, up 10.1% on January last year. There was also substantial increase in residential property auction activity in January compared to January last year, with just over half (53%) of the properties selling under the hammer or immediately after the auction in January, compared to a sales rate of just under a third (31%) in January last year.
These great figures suggest the summer bounce-back is still going strong, and with things getting back to normal after the summer break it will hopefully continue to increase in the coming months.
Average Residential property Values Rise in the Heat of Summer
According to the latest figures from Quotable Value, the average residential property values are rising in almost every part of the country, hitting $714,747 in January, up 2.5% compared to three months earlier and up 4.4% compared to a year earlier.
In the Auckland region, where the market plateaued for most of 2019, average values rose by 1.7% over the three months to January to $1,049,383. Auckland also had the highest average values in the country, the eastern districts including such blue ribbon suburbs as St Heliers and Mission Bay and had an average value of $1,560,134 in January, up 2.0% compared to three months earlier.
These increases in price will come at no surprise after the heightened activity in the market in the past three months. With more houses selling and more people looking to buy thanks to incentives such as low mortgage rates. Some watching the market however will hope that the increase will only be slight, as to not push out those looking to buy and stagnate the market again.
-Ravi Mehta