Sales on just under half the properties at Barfoot & Thompson's auctions last week

Property

Sales rate of 80% at Barfoot's central Auckland auction last week, 25% at Manukau and Pukekohe

3rd Oct 17, 9:39am by Greg Ninness

Barfoot & Thompson sold just under half of their auction properties last week, marketing 87 properties for auction and achieving sales on 40 of them, giving a clearance rate of 46%.

The stand out success was at the agency's Shortland Street auction rooms on 27 September, where 15 properties had been scheduled for auction, with one selling prior to the event and unconditional sales achieved on another 11, giving a clearance rate of 80%.

The properties offered were mostly in central Auckland suburbs such as St Heliers, Parnell, Epsom, Mt Eden and Kingsland, where the market has remained reasonably resilient during the recent downturn in sales throughout the rest of the Auckland region.

The lowest clearance rates of the major auctions Barfoot conducted last week were at Manukau and Pukekohe, which both had sales clearance rates of 25%.

The full results with the prices achieved on the properties that sold are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

If you are interested in commercial property, check out our new Commercial Property Sales page.

**Barfoot & Thompson Auction Results : 25 September to 1 October**
Date	Venue	Sold*	Not sold*	Total	% Sold
25 Sept - 1 October	On site	1	4	5	20%
26 September	Manukau	3	9	12	25%
26 September	Shortland St, CBD.	2	-	2	100%
27 September	Mortgagee/High Court	2	1	3	67%
27 September	Shortland St, CBD	12	3	15	80%
27 September	Pukekohe	2	6	8	25%
28 September	Shortland St, CBD.	4	1	5	20%
28 September	North Shore	9	15	24	37%
28 September	Kerikeri	0	1	1	Nil
29 September	Shortland St, CBD	5	7	12	42%
Total		40	47	87	46%
*Sold includes properties sold under the hammer or by 5pm the following day. Not sold includes properties that were passed in and remained unsold by 5pm the following day, plus properties that were withdrawn from sale or had their auction date postponed.

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15 Comments

by BigDaddy | 3rd Oct 17, 9:56am 1506977780

The wealthy are not affected a great deal by any down turn as can be seen by the higher sales figures in the well to do suburbs.
The poorer people in the working class areas and the first home buyers are the ones who carry the brunt of misguided lending rules.
Unintended consequences as usual when you mess with the free (?) market.

by Ex Expat | 3rd Oct 17, 10:27am 1506979671

I'm confused by the range of bearish predictions here. Other bears are citing "tides and boats". So, we won't see 30% lower, in one year, in all areas?

by Groen_mamba | 3rd Oct 17, 10:35am 1506980152

Patience my padawan. As with "tides and boats", "circles in water" also ring true

by Ex Expat | 3rd Oct 17, 10:52am 1506981152

If the bears are going to exclude Auckland's Eastern Bays from their apocalyptic vision (not a single one commented on the Auction result I posted yesterday, no surprise there) I'd rather know now than later.

by gingerninja | 3rd Oct 17, 11:31am 1506983487

I don't think a single auction result provides much to comment on regarding market trends.

I'm probably bearish on the housing market overall, but not making any specific forecasts. I'm bearish owing to what I observe as unsustainable prices (high level of household debt and high house prices to income) and the typical narrative/rhetoric of all the bulls, which follow the language patterns and psychological behaviour of every bubble ever. That rings alarm bells in my head.

Saying that though, I have no idea if the housing market will crash, gently decline over a long period or plateau for yonks. Some areas may not decline at all, others may plummet. Markets aren't orderly and neat. The up trend certainly wasn't.

I'm looking to buy a first home in NZ (in Wellington). Moved back from the UK a year ago and moved to Wellington last October. I'm seeing prices coming down in the area i'm interested in but my best guess is that they will come down further. At the moment housing inventory is very low, so until the stand off between seller expectation and buyer willingness moves, the inventory is unlikely to build and put pressure on prices in a significant way. The house I currently rent is now valued at 990k, whereas this time last year it was 1.1 million. So unless prices start shooting up again, i'm happy to wait and see what happens.

by Double-GZ | 3rd Oct 17, 1:22pm 1506990131

I'm bearish owing to what I observe as unsustainable prices (high level of household debt and high house prices to income)
Are you comparing household debts in NZ in general or in Auckland or in a specific suburb? If you think the house prices in Remuera is high then you should only use Remuera incomes.

by gingerninja | 3rd Oct 17, 1:45pm 1506991504

DGZ Sure. I wasn't commenting on Remuera specifically, and why would I?... anymore than I would use Kensington or Knightsbridge in London in a meaningful discussion about London house prices to salary or household debt levels? When you work out a median price, median salary etc is takes account of outlying prices at both ends. You must know that already, so not sure why you are asking?

Interesting, now that foreign investment is pulling out of London. The most expensive areas in London are the ones dropping in price most quickly. Just in case you were wanting to suggest that high value areas are somehow immune to house price drops (they aren't, all markets can go both ways)

Couple of articles over the past few years..it started as lack of demand and slower sales volumes, but as of this month values have now dropped.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11697582/Colossal-fall-in-d…

https://www.ft.com/content/c8bae1f4-3898-11e7-821a-6027b8a20f23

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-4932452/Nation…

by PaulO | 3rd Oct 17, 1:31pm 1506990701

30% down in all areas of Auckland in a year ain't going to happen!

by marshal | 3rd Oct 17, 10:53am 1506981184

28 September Shortland St, CBD. 4 1 5 20%

the ratio is wrong.

by Double-GZ | 3rd Oct 17, 11:04am 1506981851

There has been no mention of Remuera because Barfoot has lost all of its listings to Ray White, Boulgaris and the Kings of Remuera RE Register. No surprises there.

by CJ099 | 3rd Oct 17, 12:42pm 1506987721

Must have much better connections with the money launders.

by Retired-Poppy | 3rd Oct 17, 1:14pm 1506989665

Not a healthy market. There is no floor under it and it is certainly not about to turn the corner. More "special"rate mortgages on the way. Then comes the next global shock when even more even cheaper money will NOT fix this. A debt binge so large that the only way out is through debt forgiveness. Only then will the gap between the rich and poor close and restore stability! I fear for what is coming next.

by Laminar | 3rd Oct 17, 4:58pm 1507003082

Why wont cheap money 'fix' the next one?

by gingerninja | 3rd Oct 17, 5:38pm 1507005500

Laminar. You're funny.

by Retired-Poppy | 3rd Oct 17, 1:24pm 1506990249

and the following article is straight from the ït's different this time" and "don't panic" file:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=119…