Sales hit a 5-year high! Auckland welcomes the “freedom to choose a house”, and buyers are accelerating to enter the market…

This article is reproduced from the public account: Barfoot and Thompson

Sales activity in the Auckland real estate market is strong and house prices are generally stable.

Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson, said: “February’s transaction figures were excellent, with a total of 785 properties transacted, setting a record for February transactions in the past five years.”

“The high activity in February continued the momentum from January. In the first two months of this year, we closed a total of 1,609 properties, an increase of 16% compared to the same period last year.”

“In the past decade, the only year in which first-two-month volumes have been higher than this is 2021.”

“The key to attracting buyers is the current price level. The median home price in February was $904,000, down 9.6% from January; the average selling price was $1,013,976, down 13.3%.”

“This is one of the lowest monthly house prices (median and average sales price) Auckland has seen since prices peaked in 2022.”

“The combination of high sales and low prices confirms what the Reserve Bank refers to as ‘structural change’. At the end of February, the Reserve Bank specifically mentioned this trend when it announced that the official cash rate (OCR) would remain at 2.25%.”

“In fact, housing supply is starting to meet market demand and current prices are attracting buyers who were previously priced out.”

“There were 2,252 new listings in February, covering both new construction and existing housing. The inventory at the end of the month was 6,159, which is the highest number of listings for the same period in 15 years.”

“While broad selection, stable prices and high volumes have attracted strong buyer interest, for the first time in years, this enthusiasm has not put pressure on prices.”

“Of February sales, 31 per cent were in the price range below $750,000, the category most attractive to first home buyers.”

“Transactions for properties priced above $2 million account for 4% of total sales. Due to the holiday season, performance in this price range is usually relatively flat at this time of year.”

“In February, almost $37 million was sold in country and estate properties. This brings the total value of transactions in the first two months of the year to $100 million, an increase of 15.5 per cent on the same period last year.”

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