The head of Auckland’s biggest real estate agency, Peter Thompson of Barfoot & Thompson, says that this February sales were the best they’d been in five years – when the city’s market was heading to its peak.
Auction clearance rates were back up to what they were in the 1990s, Thompson says.
“We certainly increased the number selling above the reserve. Some auctions were forced earlier by pre-auction offers, and since the end of last year they’ve just got stronger and stronger.”
Thompson expects February’s burst of activity will continue into March, as there are plenty of indications the buoyant pattern is keeping up. Because of the 20 to 60 day closing period for sales, so far the company has seen no early signs that the coronavirus is impacting sales.
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"Any signs that the virus might have [an impact] on market activity is unlikely to appear before April's trading results," he said.
Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson says that auction clearance rates are the same as in the 1990s. Photo / supplied
“But we are in daily contact with our health advisors to make sure we are doing everything for health and safety of our staff and clients at open homes and auctions and things like that.”
Word of the booming demand appears to have gotten out to the market, as Thompson says that new listings coming to market in February were 50 per cent up on the past three month average, at with 1640 listings. That’s still not close to the 2000 or more new listings a month the company saw in the the peak 1016 – 2017 period.
The total listings of 3670 follows a summer of good sales, when the stock of houses listed for sale fell to record low levels.
“This is a modest increase on where we have been at for the previous three months but still 990 properties down on where we were at this time last year.”
The average and median values of Barfoot & Thompson’s February sales were stable, Thompson said, as there were more apartment sales in the mix this month. Apartments were 16 per cent of sales, bringing the median figure to $820,000, only 2.4 per cent higher than last February’s.
This is good news for first home buyers.
“We’ve still got a shortage of houses, but we are seeing the introduction of apartments for first home buyers,” says Thompson, pointing to strong sales in city fringe suburbs like Glen Eden, Manukau city and Manurewa.
At the other end of the price scale, there was a pick-up in sales over $1m and over $2m, with lifestyle properties in the south and around Pukekohe and Karaka doing well. Thompson puts that down to improvements in the motorways around Drury and Takanini, while listings for northern lifestyle areas like Albany, Coatesville and Riverhead stayed low.
