Auckland housing market 'restrained' as April sales fall   4 May 2016

Wednesday 04 May 2016 11:41 AM

Auckland housing market 'restrained' as April sales fall to 4-year low: Barfoot

By Tina Morrison

May 4 (BusinessDesk) - Auckland residential property sales volumes in April fell to the lowest level for the month in four years, according to the city's largest realtor.

The number of sales dropped 12 percent to 944 in April from the same month last year, and were 30 percent lower than in March, Barfoot & Thompson said in a statement. The realtor said its 1,496 new listings in April were down 5.3 percent from a year earlier and 20 percent lower than March. It had just 2,846 properties on its books at the end of April, the third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level for April in more than 15 years.

April's average Auckland sale price of $873,599 is 8.6 percent higher than April last year, lagging behind the 12 percent rate over the past year, and just 0.8 percent higher than March, Barfoot said.

The government and the Reserve Bank last year introduced measures to try and cool Auckland's bubbling property market, where migrants and investors are adding to competition for a shortage of housing. RBNZ governor Graeme Wheeler last week kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged, noting there were some indications that house price inflation in Auckland may be picking up. However, Barfoot said today its data suggested Auckland house prices have pulled back from breaking into new territory.

“Overall, activity in April is best described as restrained," said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson. “The likely cause of this was caution around current pricing and the low number of properties on the market, restricting choice."

The median sales price for the month at $820,000 was up 2.8 percent on that for March, and 8.8 percent higher than April last year.

“In part, the climb in the midway price point (median price) can be attributed to the low number of homes sold in the month for under $500,000," Thompson said. "In April, only 7.1 percent of all homes sold were in this price category compared to 10.9 percent in March while house sales above the $1 million mark were the second highest for 7 months."

(BusinessDesk)

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