New record house price for Auckland

Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson, said:  “For much of this year the average price moved between $580,000 and $590,000 but with two consecutive months of trading at an average price well above $600,000, the entire pricing structure has lifted.”

He said Christmas might offer some average price easing, but February and March would see prices lift again.

“Telling signs that higher prices have become entrenched are the 146 homes that sold for in excess of $1 million, a quarter more than we have ever sold in one month previously, and that 43% of homes sold for less than $500,000, whereas on average the number is normally half.”

He said it was buyer demand pushing up prices.

“In November we listed 1769 properties, the highest number in one month for nearly five years, and combined with residual listings, there was a reasonable range of properties from which to choose.”

But he said the number of homeowners wanting to trade up or down, and the influx of property investors and new buyers, were keeping demand high.

“Sales numbers for the month at 1124 were up 4% on those for October and up 25.7% on those for November last year. At month end we had only 3816 properties on our books, the lowest number at the end of November for more than 10 years.”