More vendors choose auctions: REINZ

May statistics from the institute showed that sales by auction represented 14.9% of all sales nationwide for the month – up from 10.1% in April.  But 71.9% of those were in Auckland.

More than a quarter of properties sold in Auckland in May went to auction.

O’Sullivan said with not a lot of supply, auctions were a good choice for vendors in Auckland and the number of properties sold that way was steadily increasing.

“We are seeing some fairly extraordinary results.”

In one case, where a vendor was willing to accept an offer of $880,000, the auction was brought forward and the property sold for $1.2 million.

O’Sullivan said the increasing popularity was also partly because of market volatility, which made it harder to price a property. “It is the agent’s job to maximize value – [auctions are good] when it’s hard to pick where to value a property.”

She expected auctions to continue to be popular in areas where there were more buyers.  “But when there is plenty of choice and not a lot of buyers, they are not so good. In Auckland, where there is not a lot of supply, it works perfectly.”