Auckland house price growth is stabilising, Barfoot says
The average sale price edged up 0.1% to $874,623 in May from April.
Auckland house price growth appears to be stabilising since hitting a record in November last year, according to the city's largest realtor.
The average sale price edged up 0.1% to $874,623 in May from April, Barfoot & Thompson said in a statement. That's up 2.4% from the previous three months, and a rise of 6.4% from May last year. The average price hit a record $876,075 in November 2015. Monthly sales volumes jumped 38% to 1306 from April and were up 6.6% on May last year.
"This is well down on the 12% increase we saw in the 2015 calendar year," said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson. "In the last two months, the number of sales has not influenced prices. In May, turnover was high and in April turnover was low yet, for both months, prices remained relatively static or fell."
The government and the Reserve Bank have both introduced new measures in an attempt to cool Auckland's housing market, where migrants and investors are adding to competition for a shortage of housing stock. Last year, the central bank introduced Auckland-specific lending restrictions, while the government cracked down on property speculators and offshore investors. Housing Minister Nick Smith yesterday unveiled the government's biggest weapon yet in its attempts to solve Auckland housing unaffordability, with a National Policy Statement that lets it force local councils into making enough affordable land available for housing and business development.
The latest Barfoot data shows more than a third of all the properties the realtor sold in May went for more than $1 million, with just 14% selling for less than $500,000.
The realtor's new listings in May increased 27% to 1905 from April and were up 9.5% up on May last year. At the end of May, Barfoot had 3013 properties on its books, 5.9% ahead of April and down 1.5% from May last year.
(BusinessDesk)
Tina Morrison
Fri, 03 Jun 2016
Fri, 03 Jun 2016
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