Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms were busier last week but the sales rate stayed at 50%

Property

Sales rates at major auctions have declined from 70%-plus at the peak of the summer selling season to around 50% now

4th May 21, 9:59am by Greg Ninness

There was a lift in activity in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms last week, although results were evenly split between properties sold under the hammer and those passed in.

Auckland's biggest real estate agency handled 260 residential auction properties in the week of April 24-30, which included the ANZAC long weekend.

That was a 44% increase on the 181 auction properties handled the previous week.

Of the 260 properties auctioned last week, exactly half were sold, with sales achieved on 130 properties with 130 passed in for sale by negotiation.

Sales rates at major auctions have been hovering around the 50% mark for the last several weeks, down from average sales rates above 70% at the peak of the summer selling season.

Details of the individual properties offered at all of the auctions monitored by interest.co.nz and the results achieved, are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

You can have articles like this delivered directly to your inbox via our free Property Newsletter. We send it out 3-5 times a week with all of our property-related news, including auction results, interest rate movements and market commentary and analysis. To start receiving them, go to our email sign up page, scroll down to option 6 to select the Property Newsletter, enter your email address and hit the Sign Me Up button.

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

16 Comments

by mikekirk29 | 4th May 21, 10:05am 1620079551

North Shore sales at 38%
This is nub of Auckland dominance and has 7% of national sales.
Would be very interesting to know what % are failing to reach reserve and also not reaching deal in ante-room next to auction main venue after.

by ikimpaul | 4th May 21, 1:21pm 1620091270

I've been tracking a number of passed in houses from barfoots auctions (12th and 19th April) and all of them are still on the market - pool is 22 houses chosen randomly from the passed in list

by Mountie | 4th May 21, 6:54pm 1620111294

Good intel. Keep us updated. A lot are being passed in with no bid.

by Jay Lim | 4th May 21, 10:14am 1620080043

The sales rate is down as vendors are unrealistic with the price expectation while buyers are not willing that much for a substandard house. This trend is likely to continue.

by printer8 | 4th May 21, 10:33am 1620081209

Seems that is is some uncertainty as to where the in the market is currently at - this is reflected in that vendors are prepared to pay the additional cost for auction to see what their market price is at.
No indication on prices obtained, but number of auctions are still reasonably firm despite four day week and the clearance rate fairly consistent with this time of the year.
Possibly (note "possibly") some indication government announcements and on-set of winter is creating a soft landing rather than falling off a cliff. May see some decline over the winter but that could well be within the range of buying well and buying poorly.
Given the time between a contracts being accepted and going unconditional to be reported in REINZ monthly data, the effect of the Government announcements will not be fully known until June report.

by house hunter | 4th May 21, 11:10am 1620083412

I've been attending a few apartment auctions and am detecting some softness. Along with the recent announcements I think people are wary of what's next. Having said that, I've also seen some surprisingly strong bidding on a couple of properties. I wish Kiwi buyers were a little more hard nosed. Feels like they pay the higher price too easily sometimes. I guess there's still a bit of FOMO in the air :-(

by stuart786786 | 4th May 21, 11:07am 1620083232

Number of house been sold may be down compare to peak but house prices are touching new height every week.

Just now a colleague who went for an auction with his son to bid for average 2 bedroom unit near Howick was advised by a re agent ( happens to be a friend) that will go in 900s or max a million ( if vendor is lucky) went for $11650000 and even the RE agent was surprised.

This is similar to last few weeks where houses that are been sold in Auction are fetching high premium and any suggestion that housing market is cooling is a myth...atleast for now and will be unless people who can make a difference remain silent spectators.

by stuart786786 | 4th May 21, 11:23am 1620084205

Another auction that fetched premium in auction - 1.345 million

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/property/residential/sale/listing/3055165193

RBNZ is still in Wait and Watch mode.

by doublehelix | 4th May 21, 11:47am 1620085676

Yes, most properties that are being passed in are being sold shortly after. There have been some absolutely unbelievable prices being achieved even after the recent announcements. I now believe there is almost nothing that can touch Auckland property. I would love to read some case studies about the buyers in the last couple of weeks. How have they financed the purchase, what is there annual income etc. and maybe I could use this info to change career!

by stuart786786 | 4th May 21, 1:48pm 1620092903

Just saw an email from RE Agent - This house has a CV of 1050 :

You previously enquired about our listing .............., Goodwood Height / Hill Park.

As you know, the property was priced at $1,295,000. This email is just to advise you that the owners have asked us to present all offers above the $1,100,000 mark after long conversations and reviewing market feedback.

by Mountie | 4th May 21, 6:57pm 1620111429

I attended an open home in Epsom in Nov 2019. The agent's PA phoned me last week. Have you bought yet? Ah, yep.

by Lord Dowding | 4th May 21, 2:05pm 1620093913

Yes the stuff that people want to live in and not rent out is still selling way above what it was at the end of last year and will stay that way.

FHBs who are hoping these kind of properties are suddenly going to drop 200k are just kidding themselves

by Spectators | 4th May 21, 11:55am 1620086124

Low interest rates...can borrow more...does borrow more...bid higher...higher house prices...more equity in existing portfolio...use equity as deposit for another...rinse and repeat

What a wonderful housing situation we have in NZ

by ikimpaul | 4th May 21, 2:04pm 1620093888

looking at this mornings auctions - you look at the first 7 listings (out of 18 ) and 6 have sold and you think - the market is back and then only 2 of the next 11 sell and you realise the market is still at a 50% pass rate.

by Dezo | 4th May 21, 4:06pm 1620101166

Ive paid off my house and have three kids who will all be looking to hopefully buy in the next few/several years, so i do not mind if prices drop or at least level off a bit.......but i can not see this really happening. There are plenty of wealthy mortgage free investors and retires out there still getting good returns, plus FHB will be out in force.....I also think, if there average rental is going to cost landlords on average an extra $100/week, i believe LLs and tenants will meet half way to cover this. After all, with the minimun wage just gone up by $40/week, ($80/week for a couple)most people in the country (LLs included) wouldve received similar. My 2cents.

by Black and White | 4th May 21, 7:47pm 1620114439

Wow Northshore at 38%
The Northshore is one of the best areas in Auckland.
This is close to a 50% decrease in clearance rates from 5 weeks ago.
Bring on the no interest only loans on residential property and let's get this market on the mend.
You are doing a great job in sorting the market well done the red time.