Auckland’s largest real estate agency said house sales last month were the highest they had seen for August in five years – even with the city in an alert level three lockdown for much of the month.
Managing director of Barfoot and Thompson, Peter Thompson, said the August market “sailed through the latest restrictions”.
“August trading was exceptional," he said, with sales numbers at a level last seen at the height of the last property cycle.
August saw a boom in new listings, and record sales volumes but still the number of houses for sale did not keep up with buyer demand. Prices hit a new high, but a shortage of listings heading into the traditionally strong spring market uplift will be a problem for buyers.
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At 1354, new Barfoot and Thompson listings for August were "positive”, said Thompson, but with sales of 1055 properties, his agents were left with only 3703 properties on the company’s books, the lowest number since February.
Barfoot and Thompson said it an average of just under 3900 sales a month in the last three months, but its new listings averaged at just under 1400 a month. The math is not working in buyer’s favour as Barfoot and Thompson August sales this year boomed to 41.4 percent higher than August last year.
Thompson said the upper end of the market and lifestyle properties both fared well, with Barfoot and Thompson recording 60 sales over $2 million and another 454 for over $1 million, while just 84 sales were made for properties under $500,000.
The company’s median price for Auckland of $911,500 was the third highest ever, 2.4 percent higher than in July and 9.8 percent higher than August last year.
Ray White also reported a bumper August, saying its sales were up a record 84.4 per cent on August last year. Sales value topped $1.248 billion on 1684 sales and auction clearance rates were 78 percent. But the number of properties available for sale was down nearly 13 per cent, driving prices up by 9.2 per cent.
Ray White New Zealand chief executive Carey Smith said the sales numbers were extraordinary.
"All available properties coming onto the market were largely being sold to the current buyer pool.”
Smith said sales records were broken across the board, with the top five offices all being in Auckland. Megan Jaffe’s Remuera office broke its previous monthly record by selling $105 million worth of property, Manukau sold 96 properties and listed 107 to achieve $51 million in sales. The company’s Ponsonby office sold $50 million of property, while Ray White Epsom achieved $49 million and Ray White Mount Eden $37 million.
Property asking prices were up 9.2 per cent on last August, again driven by a drop in listings of 12.7 per cent. The company had 4,127 properties on their books, with new listing numbers dropping in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, and Otago.
Smith said there was a positive sentiment in the market from buyers.
“Sellers are achieving great prices, particularly properties marketed by auction and with continuing low-interest rates, the outlook remains strong.”
