Auction rooms quieter as the housing market readies for winter

Property

Overall sales rate of 28% at Barfoot & Thompson's last auctions of autumn

7th Jun 19, 9:54am by Greg Ninness

There is less activity in the auction rooms as the property market prepares for hibernation over the winter months.

Barfoot & Thompson marketed 104 residential properties for sale by auction in the last week of autumn and achieved sales on 29 of those, giving an overall sales rate of 28%.

At the major auctions where at least 10 properties were offered, the highest sales rate was at the North Shore auctions with 31%.

At the Shortland Street auction on 29 May, where most of the properties offered were from upmarket central Auckland suburbs such as Remuera, Parnell, Mission Bay, Glendowie, Epsom, Ponsonby and Mt Eden, the sales rate was 26% and at the Manukau auction where properties from throughout southern and eastern suburbs such as Flat Bush, Botany Downs, Beachlands, Manurewa and and Papatoetoe were offered, the sales rate was 24% (see the table below for the full results).

Details of the individual properties offered and the prices achieved for most of those that sold are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

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**Barfoot & Thompson Residential Auction Results 27 May - 2 June 2019**
Date	Venue	Sold	Not Sold	Total	% Sold
28 May	Manukau	6	19	25	24%
28 May	Shortland St, CBD.	2	2	4	50%
29 May	On-site	2	0	2	100%
29 May	Whangarei	0	3	3	0
29 May	Shortland St, CBD.	9	26	35	26%
29 May	Pukekohe	1	2	3	33%
30 May	North Shore	8	18	26	31%
30 May	Shortland St, CBD.	0	2	2	0
31 May	Shortland St, CBD.	1	3	4	25%
Total	All venues	29	75	104	28%

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47 Comments

by Glitzy | 7th Jun 19, 10:01am 1559858506

Gonna be a long winter Greg.

by Joe Wilkes | 7th Jun 19, 10:48am 1559861326

A Game of Thrones Winter perhaps?

by Zabman | 7th Jun 19, 11:53am 1559865228

Where is the prince that was promised?

by RickStrauss | 7th Jun 19, 1:15pm 1559870158

Having trouble getting his capital past the great wall.

by Joe Wilkes | 7th Jun 19, 1:48pm 1559872123

That’s brilliant.

by tothepoint - d… | 7th Jun 19, 1:40pm 1559871607

Yep - quiet housing market in Auckland will likely continue over winter.

But continuing price rises in the smaller centres will elevate the price platform for Auckland.

TTP

by Pragmatist | 7th Jun 19, 10:07am 1559858877

Can we strap you to a generator? You spin so hard you'd singlehandedly generate enough electricity to power the whole world if we could build a big enough generator.

by Glitzy | 7th Jun 19, 2:22pm 1559874172

Priceless :)

by Dogboy | 7th Jun 19, 10:10am 1559859048

Declining confidence in Auckland will drop the other regions more likely

by CourtJester | 7th Jun 19, 3:15pm 1559877310

No, you don't understand! When Auckland prices are going up, the regions follow Auckland. When the region prices are going up, Auckland follows the regions! It's like a perpetual motion device! This way prices can only go up!

(just kidding of course)

by NorthernLights | 7th Jun 19, 5:04pm 1559883842

I long for the heady days when property spruikers from leafy suburbs adorned the comments section here with their property prose
Guess they’ve less to spruik about now
28% sold 72% unsold
I guess auctions aren’t that great anymore

by CourtJester | 7th Jun 19, 10:57am 1559861873

Looks like the "CGT ban" was a fizzle, aye?

by cmat | 7th Jun 19, 12:04pm 1559865864

What is "the price platform"??

by Miguel | 7th Jun 19, 2:41pm 1559875273

A fictional concept invented to try and support an increasingly untenable position.

by Cowpat | 7th Jun 19, 10:23am 1559859820

The Auckland housing market has stalled. With the exception of the period November 1997 to April 2000, the current March 2017 to May 2019 period is now the longest period where a new median high price has not been set.( The GFC was a blip ) As more home owners get dragged into a position where they are more likely to be sitting on a loss, the dynamics and perceptions will continue to change.For two decades , what was a given is no longer. Given that Auckland's regional growth during that time ,has been fueled by the very sectors that rely upon ever increasing house prices and resulting sales, how will it work in reverse .

by Jaf | 7th Jun 19, 10:41am 1559860910

There are owners, be they investors or speculators, who ostrich-like refuse to see the reality of the Auckland property market.Well, they can go into hibernation this winter & let the world pass by Rip Van Winkle-style.Wake up to see things have changed for even worse.

by Market Interest | 7th Jun 19, 11:19am 1559863151

Has anyone here been keeping a close eye on central Auckland? I've been seeing lots of sales in Remuera, Newmarket and Parnell, but haven't been able to get any idea of the pricing. I've given up hanging around auctions and following up with evasive agents.

Also One Tree Hill area seems to be selling well - again no pricing indication on most, but those that have pricing info have been surprisingly high.

by VeryInterested | 7th Jun 19, 11:38am 1559864324

Hi Market Interest try this

https://robertashton.bayleys.co.nz/The-Rob-Report.aspx

by Market Interest | 7th Jun 19, 1:42pm 1559871723

Great thanks

by swapacrate | 7th Jun 19, 10:00pm 1559901634

Are you guys related

by VeryInterested | 7th Jun 19, 10:15pm 1559902540

Interesting question ..... nope not related

by Glitzy | 7th Jun 19, 11:42am 1559864576

A lot of stock at the top end is being taken off the market with no bid. Some places are still moving but these tend to be with realistic pricing and in good condition (e.g. 33 Norfolk St."). Quite a few investors putting places they previously planned to develop back on the market but there is little demand in this space. Older places, deceased estates not getting much bid either unless prices are being dropped significantly due to renovation cost. Overall it's a soft market and would expect to soften a lot as stock flows in.

by cmat | 7th Jun 19, 12:07pm 1559866076

Have they been selling or have listings been disappearing because they didn't sell and were pulled?

by Glitzy | 7th Jun 19, 12:30pm 1559867454

Being pulled. There is no bid on a lot of stock at the moment. There is also no realisation by vendors that a poor quality property is worth land value less demolition cost. It will take the market a while to wake up to the new conditions.

by house hunter | 7th Jun 19, 3:25pm 1559877938

Yes, I've been keeping a close eye on it. The very best properties are still selling promptly for decently high prices. Slightly flawed properties, or properties with unrealistic price expectations, are taking longer to sell. Often considerably longer - buyers can afford to be picky now. Prices are hard to gauge precisely, but definitely seem to be heading in the right direction (down). We're still not in bargain territory yet though!

A random example:
6 Bingley Ave, Epsom (https://www.realestate.co.nz/3512236)
Seemed like a perfectly fine house on a very good sized block in quiet street. Nothing amazing, but looked like plenty of scope to expand or enhance.
CV: 2.15. Listed 4 March (over 3 months ago now) and from memory got passed in at auction. Then they started asking 2.65 and now down to 2.55.
Seems like places such as this are selling much closer to CV than 12 months ago.

by Mrs The Point | 7th Jun 19, 5:00pm 1559883650

edit, wrong.

by Pragmatist | 7th Jun 19, 9:48pm 1559900906

37 Sylvania cres in Lynfield (https://rwtitirangi.co.nz/properties/sold-residential/auckland-city/lyn…) finally sold. It'd been on the market since at least November, and when I first noted it in early December they were asking 1.75m, probably had failed to sell at auction prior to that i'm guessing, and they briefly had it listed for Auction again when they changed agents in early march, but backed out and just put it up for negotiation for a couple months before slapping a price on it..
CV is $1.8m. So finally sold a smidge over half a million under CV, and I can't see anything particularly wrong with the house from the pics.

by swapacrate | 7th Jun 19, 10:04pm 1559901891

That cracks me up, thats basically a state house done up. Asking 2.55 and CV 2.15. House is probably worth nada, so its all land.

by Pragmatist | 7th Jun 19, 10:59pm 1559905175

Official council rates page says you are wrong.. thats $1/2 million of wood and bricks on a $1.65m patch of dirt.

by kemistry | 7th Jun 19, 4:04pm 1559880263

That seems to be the way down the road in Onehunga as well .. Properties don't seem to hang around very long (although, not sure of the selling price's though.I've only seen some numbers against a few, and they have done really well and have exceeded CV). Seems like there are still pockets doing well

by kpnuts | 7th Jun 19, 11:30am 1559863805

well we have had winter sales levels for the past two summers --- worst May for 10 years -- i doubt if even The man and TPP can make winter sound promising ..... wait for it

by delboy | 7th Jun 19, 11:31am 1559863890

The only way Auckland house prices will recover is if China relaxes their capital outflow restrictions and our Govt turns a blind eye to money laundering and foreign buyers but thankfully for us this Govt has done the right thing through the AML law and foreign buyer ban.

2012 to 2016 was a like a gold rush in Auckland but now the prospectors have gone.

by RickStrauss | 7th Jun 19, 1:17pm 1559870234

And the CCP cannot afford to relax its capital restrictions.

by theglc | 7th Jun 19, 11:32am 1559863974

Pathetic clearance rates and Winter is only just getting going

I thought the OCR cut was supposed to help........ Fail!

by Miguel | 7th Jun 19, 2:39pm 1559875154

I doubt the drop in OCR would be seen in the May figures. Not that I expect it to have any serious impact, but seems to early to say for sure.

by guwop | 7th Jun 19, 11:37am 1559864251

Greg, how can the NZ housing market be ready for winter? I have never seen such low quality housing anywhere on the planet as here in NZ: crying windows, draughts, no heating by default.

Yet, you bulls keep buying them boxes. A disgrace!

by VeryInterested | 7th Jun 19, 11:48am 1559864909

Guwop - yes totally agree! We have owned and rented 7 houses in New Zealand and they have all been low quality. These have ranged from a classic 1950’s weatherboard, plaster 1990’s and a couple of new builds built in the 2010’s. Even the one’s that had been well built and had double glazing were still wet. Nz double glazing is of poor quality as the aluminium frames are not insulated so condensation can easily build up. The glass is also cold to the touch which would indicate to me that the gas between the glass panes is insufficient..... and don’t get me started on the lack of heating throughout the house.

by richard1965 | 7th Jun 19, 11:46am 1559864768

Now blame the winter but not accept the fact that market is ………………

Funny how, so many are actually trying to convince themselves otherwise (By trying to convince others) and having hopes that market will pick up...…… Will pick up for sure and Should be positive BUT only if looking for investment for couple of years - 3 to 5 years minimum :)

Not to go on media report or advise by many so called experts as they will need something to write so one day will be positive and next day negative to counter balance and this will keep on going but one has to use his/her judgement and not what is being put in media many a time by paid/fake news/article/opinion.

by taimaiakka0 | 7th Jun 19, 12:07pm 1559866077

"Now blame the winter..."

Really funny it is Richard.

Foolishness is an ostrich who sticks her head in the sand while a pack of hyenas closes around her (Ostrich = So Called Intelligent Investor and Hyenas = Falling Market)

by CourtJester | 7th Jun 19, 3:20pm 1559877638

In 2017 mainstream media was blaming the pre-election uncertainty, then the election results, then the rainy Summer, then the holiday season, then Easter, then the cold Autumn, then Winter, then school holidays, then the FBB, then the Summer again... and so on. Now it's Winter's turn again. There's always something to blame for the fact that the much anticipated (by whom?) bull run hasn't come yet. Except for the lack of Chinese capital of course.

by Crazy Horse | 7th Jun 19, 12:39pm 1559867965

There must be an algorithm out there, given to the NZ MSM that gives each individual word a score of whether it will be a "positive" or 'negative" to an article written about the property market. Seems to me the use of such a system is tantamount when these articles are written, as the "powers that be" will be working totally in their own interests and those of their "true" customers - the real estate business, advertisers, banks, mortgage brokers, accountants, lawyers, valuers, contractors, suppliers etc etc etc. - not the buyers and sellers of property themselves.

by Carlos67 | 7th Jun 19, 1:13pm 1559870031

Surprised its still this high, actions are dead in the current market. Still I'm told by a RE just the other day just as many sell post auction by negotiation within days as they do at the drop of the hammer so the real figures could well be higher.

by Glitzy | 7th Jun 19, 2:26pm 1559874386

To paraphrase Mandy Rice Davies at the Profumo trial. "Well, he would say that wouldn't he."

by Dgm | 7th Jun 19, 2:07pm 1559873239

Heeeeellllllloooooooooooooooooooooooo...

by Dgm | 7th Jun 19, 2:07pm 1559873270

wow, what an echo.... the rooms must be absolutely empty....

by Voiceofreason | 7th Jun 19, 2:39pm 1559875157

Such a very low percentage selling at auction, and that's of people who are still confident enough about a sale to go to auction!

by alittle | 7th Jun 19, 4:52pm 1559883139

RE Agent told that now they go to Auction Many a time for the vendor to see the reality and to demoralize the vendor.

Become realistic if want a sell.