Auckland property steady despite interest rate rises

Sales data for May shows buoyant sales volumes and prices, and a significant influx of new listings for the month.

Barfoot & Thompson sold more than 1,100 properties during May for an average sale price of $557,546. This was up 4.7% on the April average of $532,482, 8.4% ahead of the average for the first quarter and 16.3% ahead of the same month last year.

The agency reports settled sales, so many of the sales transacted during May would have been signed up at a time when the March and April movements in the OCR would have been fresh in the minds of buyers. Director Peter Thompson says, “It’s interesting to see such underlying strength in the property market despite the prospect of higher home loan rates”.

“We’ve been consistent in our view that the market will continue to demonstrate an underlying strength and the figures for May continue to support that position. It was particularly pleasing to see more than 1,800 new listings come on stream during the month.”

Average weekly rent for May was $375, up from $361 in April and significantly ahead of the previous record of $367 (March 2007). A total of 627 houses and units were let during May.