There was a substantial increase in residential property auction activity in January compared to January last year, which suggests a buoyant start to the peak summer selling season.
January is usually a quiet month for auctions, with almost no activity in the first two weeks of the month when the market is all but closed down for the New Year break.
However there's usually a trickle of auctions in the second half of the month and then activity builds steadily as it heads towards March, usually the busiest month of the year for the residential property market.
Last month interest.co.nz monitored 136 residential property auctions, which was up 70% on January last year.
Not only were more properties brought to auction than a year ago but a higher proportion of them were sold, with just over half (53%) of the properties selling under the hammer or immediately after the auction in January, compared to a sales rate of just under a third (31%) in January last year.
Prices also appeared firmer.
Where a property's selling price could be matched with its Rating Valuation (RV), 73% sold for more than their RVs last month compared to 43% in January last year.
So although January was still a relatively quiet month for auction activity compared to other months of the year, those early results are pointing towards a fairly sold lift in sales activity over the coming few months.
The results of individual property auctions are available on our Residential Auction Results page.
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