Median sales values are up – but are there enough houses to buy?

The start of the spring selling season has seen prices lift to record values and days to sell a property drop around the country, but sales volumes and listings around the country are still down on last year.

According to the latest sales data from REINZ, while median house prices last month rose by 8.2 percent from last October, to a new record high of $607,500, national sales volume dropped 4 percent to 6,801, down from 7,083 last year, and listings around the country are still down 13 percent on last year.

However there was a glimmer of Auckland volumes returning, with sales down by just three properties, from 2028 last year to 2025 this. The rest of the country saw a slump of 5.5 percent, to below 4800 (4776) sales, but there were pockets of buoyancy.

Bay of Plenty saw a volume rise of over 20 percent, the region’s top October volume in four years, and Tasman and Nelson saw similar pick-ups, with their highest volumes for three and four years.

REINZ Chief Executive Bindi Norwell attributes the drop in this year’s sales volume to last year’s rush of vendors selling property before the foreign buyer ban came into effect at the end of October 2018. But while sales volumes this month were up over 12 percent on September, listings volumes are still not up. Nationally, inventory was down 13 percent

“There are around 7,800 fewer listings for the first 10 months of 2019 when compared to the same time last year, it’s no wonder sales volumes are down,” says Norwell. At only 22, 313, October had 3,360 fewer listings. Wellington is particularly tight, with only six weeks’ inventory.

Norwell points out that the more affordable parts of Auckland saw the biggest sales volume increases. Papakura District was up nearly 42 percent on last year, Franklin up nearly 26 percent and Rodney up 14 percent. More expensive areas such as Auckland City and North Shore City saw falls of just over 9 percent and 3 percent.

But sellers in the higher price brackets can breath a little easier, as the number of $1 million plus properties sold increased to 1060, up from 998 last October across the country. But in Auckland, this bracket has stayed static year on year. There was an even bigger uptick in sales volume in the $500,000 to $750,000 bracket up to 2,271 properties from 2,094 properties last year.

Auction sales are on the up from last month, accounting for 15.5 percent of sales nationally. In Auckland, auctions made up over 28 percent of sales, the highest proportion in 12 months.

“As confidence continues to creep through, it’s likely we’ll see an uplift again in November, before things quieten down over Christmas and then pick up at the end of January again,” says Norwell.