Auckland's biggest real estate agency sold 118 homes for more than $2m last month - more than double the number sold in July last year.
Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot and Thompson, said that high prices were "not proving a deterrent to top end property", as he released the agency's monthly sales, but added that listings over $2m were the hardest to get at the moment.
“We’ve certainly got the $2m buyers for family homes and apartments, we just can’t get enough listings at that upper price point.”
At Barfoot & Thompson auctions this week, buyer demand for a four-bedroom home in double grammar zone in Standen Avenue, Remuera pushed the price to $3.801m, nearly $200,000 above reserve and $1.621m above the price it sold for in May last year.
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A brick and tile four-bedroom home with a pool, on Norman Lesser Drive, close to the Meadowbank shopping centre, sold for $3.11m, $1.135m above it’s council valuation.
High demand for top end properties drove the price of a home in Standen Avenue, Remuera to $3.801m. Photo / Supplied
He said that mounting concerns about the prices being paid and possible future interest rate increases did not dampen July trading.
“Most people had been expecting interest rate increases, as the banks had been indicating this for some months and were prepared.
“It’s interesting to see first home buyers returning. I don’t know of too many who would be buying without a good deposit of 20%.”
A family home in Norman Lesser Drive, St Johns, Auckland sold for $3.11m. Photo / Supplied
While the average sale price for July for the agency was up 3.5% on the previous month to $1.183m, there was no monthly lift in median sale price.
The median price of properties sold by Barfoot and Thompson last month was $1.101m, a 0.7% dip on June's median sale price.
Thompson says this reflects the mix of home selling, with a higher number of sales in the $750,000 to $1m price bracket
Sales almost nudged downwards, dropping from 1243 in June to 1235 in July, although up 4.5% on the previous three-month average and up 12.8% on July last year.
The number of new properties brought to market by the agency in July - 1349 - was down 9.2% on the previous month's total and down 13.2% on the previous three-month average, as well down 11.1% on July 2020.
However, Thompson said the drop in listings was in line with seasonal trends.
A develpment site at Castledine Crescent, Glen Innes, Auckland, sold for $2.26m. Photo / Supplied
“Although new listings at 1349 in July were down modestly in comparison to recent months, they were in line with those in July for most of the past 10 years," he said.
“The market is not suffering a lack of new listings. They are holding up well. We are simply selling all that we list promptly, at premium prices to a large pool of committed buyers. "
Thompson says that the heat had not gone out of auctions, with 58% of July’s listings choosing that sales method, almost the same level as February’s 61%.
He expects the usual spring uplift in listings and sales to show in by September, but adds that until more houses are built, prices will continue to increase.
“Once there are more houses in the market, then there’s more choice to buy. New build prices have to look like a better deal than existing houses, so we need to look at the price of building materials, at the design and size of new builds to make them affordable.
“Maybe build basic three-bedroom, one-bathroom houses like we were all brought up on, rather than four bedrooms and two or three bathrooms. “
Developers are paying big money for land for new homes. A home on 973sqm site in Castledine Crescent, Glen Innes that is zoned for high density sold at a Barfoot & Thompson auction this week for $2.26m. Bidding on the four-bedroom property started at $1.8m, well above its council valuation of $1.525m.
