Auckland Property Market Steady during August

The latest monthly sales results from Auckland property market leader Barfoot & Thompson shows the market remained steady during the month of August with both the volume of sales and the average price up slightly.

Barfoot & Thompson made 965 sales during the month compared to 994 in June and 887 in July. While this is more than 20 percent lower than the sales volume achieved at the same point last year, it’s consistent with the market performance throughout 2004 which has seen sales volumes generally ease as the year has progressed.

The average price for August was $428,785 which is higher than July and slightly ahead of the three month average of just over $428,000. Barfoot & Thompson Director Peter Thompson says, “The overall trend in prices is steady. We are not seeing evidence of prices falling back; in fact they remain substantially ahead of the same time last year. What is noticeable is that the number of listings available has increased which has eased what was an extreme shortage of stock towards the end of last year. There is now a much better balance between supply and demand.”

“Overall, I would say that we are back to ‘real’ real estate. The market is more evenly balanced between vendors and buyers. There are still plenty of buyers in the market but they are now able to take more time over their buying decisions. From the vendors’ perspective, prices are stable but sales may not happen as quickly as they have done over the past year or so.”

In the rental market, average weekly rent is also steady at $329 – the average over the past six months is $332. The number of houses and units let by Barfoot & Thompson during August (652) was five percent ahead of the same time last year.