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Auction numbers are up compared to last year in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms and prices look firm

Property
Auction numbers are up compared to last year in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms and prices look firm

Auction activity is starting to pick up again in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms as the market starts to wind back up for the peak summer selling season.

The agency marketed 62 residential properties for sale by auction last week (3-9 February), which was up from 55 in the comparable week of last year (4-10 February).

The sales rate was also higher this year, with 55% of the properties changing hands at last week's auctions compared to 40% in the same week last year.

There were particularly high sales rates at the on-site auctions last week where all of the four properties offered were sold, and at the Shortland St auction on February 5, where 14 properties were offered from a mix of central Auckland suburbs and nine were sold, giving a sales rate of 67%.

Prices also appeared reasonably firm with 76% of sales achieving prices that were higher than their rating valuations, where selling prices and valuations could be matched.

Details of the individual properties taken to auction and the results achieved are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

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31 Comments

Given the minimum wage is approaching $20 a hr, there is no reason for house price NOT to be so affordable.

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The Auckland market is going gangbusters right now. I figure it’s a combination of low mortgage rates, the new HomeStart govt grant and perhaps foreign buyers working around the foreign buyer ban.

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The speaker at an investment property seminar used those exact words to lure more spruikers into the market.
He also said something along the lines that NZ enjoys a favourable position in the global 'talent' market as a safe haven for economic refugees. I don't disagree with this line as it explains why thousands still move to NZ despite burgeoning living costs and low wages comparable to international standards.

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Homestart Grant in Auckland is limited to $600k price for an existing property, or $650k for a new build, and income caps of $130k for a couple and $85k for a single person. Thats going to be a pretty small section of the Auckland market. I'd cross that one off the list of reasons.

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Unless corona virus wreaks havoc, we’ll probably see a more active housing market this year. But I’m probably stating what’s pretty obvious to most people.

Enjoy the summer months everyone - but don’t forget those face-masks.......

TTP

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Something tells me we're not going to get well over 100 comments now that the market is not "crashing" anymore

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You might be right.

With 12 more houses sold than the same week last year, we might well be in for a bunch of comments like the one above that in a city of 1.5 million people the market is absolutely going gangbusters.

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More like steady. Listings are coming through in my area and CoreLogic has just dropped the estimated value of my home by $10,000 to 101.7% of the 2017 CV. In hindsight the COL hasn’t been disastrous for me. I imagine that would be seen as their failing by many here.

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Steady is my first impression too, XX.

From what I see there's a mix of gruntle levels - gruntlement of measures such as the foreign buyer ban and healthy homes legislation, etc. and disgruntlement with the level of courage and willingness around building. However, many seem to be aware that things could have been far worse under an alternative coalition. Margin of error on a 3-year old valuation has at least given more folk a chance to save without falling far behind.

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Boom times!!!!!

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Capital gain from a packet of masks will be way over the CG on a house in Auckland. A $10 pack of 50 masks is selling for well over $70 online..!

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Funnily enough a friend had a pallet of these that were being sent to back to china, roughly a 96% gp, so a worthy investment

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It seems to bug you doesn't it, so much so you're now resorting to preemptive comments despite a good number of our well known DGM's being off elsewhere.

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Bug me that many DGM's have cowardly gone with their tails between their legs? Not really, actually makes me very happy : )

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Somewhat surprising comment from you there, Yvil.

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Of course, you're correct Yvil...... And, as the DGM die off, so do the inept comments.

Notably, the dialogue/comments here are becoming more disciplined and honest.

TTP

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[ Leave the petty insults/name-calling out please. Ed ]

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[ Ditto. No insults please. Comment on the issues only. We give wide latitude on that so long as its issues based. Ed ]

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Does anyone have insight into the new listings pipeline? The pre-xmas listings rush was MIA, in Auckland at least. I reckon that much depends on how much listings surge post-xmas. If the listings don't come, I imagine things will get tight. But if sellers saw the signs of life pre-xmas as a signal of the time to sell, it might be a real rush in the next few weeks.

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Auckland 30% lower listings than a year ago

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I may be forced to conclude that the market is going to keep on trucking upwards for the next little while. Sadly that means more doom and gloom for those who've been struggling unsuccessfully to get a foothold into the market.

For myself, am considering the possibility of buying an investment property...

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Hi hh, just a thought....if it was a home to live in long term, fire away ! ...but if you are thinking of Auckland for an investment property, I'd run in the other direction !

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Probably not Auckland since I'm thinking about a holiday home with some AirBnB side-action type scenario. Maybe calling it an investment is a bit of an over statement :-)
Suspect there are still some decent capital gains to be had in Auckland but also really like the idea of some geographic diversity (main home is in Akl).

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Rock Star Economy back .....................Game started. Median Price of Auckland at this stage should be between 1.5 Million to 2 million shortly if it continues to rise on a daily/weekly basis

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The median house price in NZ has risen 18.67% since the COL have been in Government (31/10/17 to 31/12/19). That represents 26 months of records. In the 26 months prior to that, prices rose 13.97%. Those include Auckland that has been flat. If COL supporters count that as a win, then so be it.

Edit to add wellington: 29.6% for last 26 months under Nats, 32% under COL.

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LOL of course it's the COL that increased house prices. I guess they just gave everyone half a million dollars to play with...
As a (perhaps ex-) COL-supporter I don't count it as a win, at all. But it was pretty much expected that the money would flow to the regions once Auckland levels out. Disillusioned Aucklanders buying rental properties all over the country to build their own little empire. Must be amazing for everyone living in those places.
Seriously, what do you think a single government can do against this worldwide phenomenon? Limit property ownership to one per person? Land value tax? CGT? All of these are political suicide, sadly.
Banks are in control of asset prices.

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Maybe a start is promising only what you can deliver.

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Which would be political suicide.

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Court Jester, of course you jest don’t you?
Limit one house per person?
Land Tax?
CGT?
Are you jealous of people who have more than one house for some reason?
On the same basis we should ensure that everyone earns the same amount of money every year?
Everyone has the same living standard and same no. Of kids?
Everyone has the same quality of life?

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PAYE is an envy tax levied by those who those the more successful in business. It forces them to pay for society, rather than a more reasonable mix of taxation of earned and unearned income.

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TM2, I wasn't talking about what I would do. I was just contemplating the options of a government to stop asset prices increases. Of course a general CGT or a limit of 1 property per person would be idiotic. But the person above me was blaming the government for not stopping the asset price bubble. National couldn't do anything about it, Labour can't do anything about it either. Well, they could if they never wanted to be re-elected again.

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