Average House Price Eases Slightly In Active May Market

Auckland house prices in May reversed a three-month trend of rising values.

“In May the average price of $529,284 was down 2.8 percent on April’s average price and down 2.5 percent on May’s average last year,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“It reverses a three-month trend where the average price for the month was higher than that for the preceding month.

“We sold 889 properties in May, a quarter more than we did in April, and 12.2 percent more than we did in May last year.

“This combination of rising sales and the average price easing demonstrates that prices are not starting to overheat.

“The major issue facing the Auckland market remains lack of choice for buyers.

“In May we listed 1169 new properties. While this was up 13.2 percent on new listings for April, it was down 15 percent on new listing in May last year.

“At the end of May we had only 5249 properties on our books, the lowest number for 20 months.

“A contributing factor to the decline in the average sales price was the relatively low number of million dollar plus sales that settled in May.

“In any given month 15 to 16 percent of our sales by volume would be valued in excess of a million dollars, but in May that number eased to 13.6%.

“Again it is lack of choice that is affecting this market segment as there are active buyers looking in this price bracket.

“Given the natural level of home turnover in a city the size of Auckland, it indicates that many home owners who are thinking of selling have adopted a wait and see policy until there are stronger signs that the economy is on the path to recovery.

“There is a good level of buyer interest, and people who are pricing their property right are achieving a sale.”