Steady level of autumn activity in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms

Property

The sales rate in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms has settled at just over 50% during autumn

25th May 21, 9:29am by Greg Ninness

It was steady as she goes in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms last week, with Auckland's biggest real estate agency auctioning 212 residential properties, up slightly from 206 the previous week.

The sales were also steady, with 111 properties finding new owners, giving an overall sales rate of 52%, compared to 51% the previous week.

Around the main Auckland districts, properties in Rodney had the highest sales rate at 64%. The lowest sales rate for the week was in Waitakere at 36% (see the table below for the district-by-district breakdown).

The number of properties being auctioned by Barfoots has declined from more than 300 a week during the peak selling months of February/March, settling closer to 200 a week as the slower winter season approaches. Over the last month or so the sales rate has settled at around 50%.

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

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30 Comments

by Groat | 25th May 21, 9:54am 1621893265

Mr Orr? Is it time to remove LVR restrictions again and slash interest rates or would that be something that only somebody who was way out of his depth would do?

by printer8 | 25th May 21, 10:19am 1621894751

Groat
You seemingly have this singular narrow fixation on FHB house affordability. Yes, an issue however but not RBNZ's only consideration.
A challenge for you - can you outline these other considerations?
Orr out of his depth? It is only a fool who underestimates others and you are looking to be in this category.

by Groat | 25th May 21, 10:30am 1621895452

P8, opinions from vested interests like yourself, who want this ponzi to continue are easily ignored.

by printer8 | 25th May 21, 10:46am 1621896360

Groat
That just goes to show how wrong you can be. As previously posted I have been out of investment property since 2016. Not that you would be concerned, I like others have suffered decline of interest rates on term deposits so have also been negatively affected.

You still haven't answered my challenge - what other factors have and do RBNZ taken into consideration?
You not up to answering this???????

by rastus1 | 25th May 21, 1:47pm 1621907241

I'll have a crack.
Allow the markets to act like markets do. i.e operate freely. Not by manipulating interest rates and counterfeiting money in order to save the skin of the over leveraged, depress the value of those holding cash and depress the value of my income.

by Luke83 | 25th May 21, 10:42am 1621896179

Same moan different day, it's to hard, it's not fair, bla bla bla. Keep it up I say, gives me a better life. Socialism doesn't work FYI

by Fluffybunny | 25th May 21, 11:00am 1621897238

Call it whatever names you want. I dont want to live in a country where housing cost relative to income is more expensive than anywhere else in the developed world.

Its a cancer on our nations productivity, not required, avoidable and not something to be proud of.

by 2 Cent | 25th May 21, 12:43pm 1621903435

All this money we spend on rent or mortgage repayments are less people spend on local businesses. Additionally it reduces the amount of money invested in businesses is less because they are invested in unproductive land. There is a reason money flows over to Aussie with the banks bumper profits. Not socialism but we should be better capitalists, the current model is not that.

by AKLCrusader | 26th May 21, 1:48pm 1621993691

This does assume that people with spare money will have the wherewithal to do actual investing. Most will have Kiwisaver, and that is about as close as they want to get to a share-market or direct investment. A lack of financial literacy leads people to invest in what we understand. Our debt mountain is also our savings plan.

At the same time, older people who were burnt in the '87 market collapse - or Blue Chip etc in the GFC - and left with nothing, have an aversion to losing their money with no actual asset remaining. That didn't generate productivity, nor has most of the current sharemarket over-inflation.

At least when you buy a house, you have......a house.

by powerupkiwi | 25th May 21, 1:28pm 1621906138

When government restricts housing supply, subsidises first time buyers, and and pumps money into the system for the benefit of homeowners, that ain’t capitalism. It’s middle-class welfare. And you’re right, it doesn’t work. Your perpetually gradually rising market promised by Ms Ardern will eventually fall over.

by rastus1 | 25th May 21, 1:51pm 1621907519

Groat.
Stop wasting your time on here. Get active and create a rent strike movement. First week in every month until housing starts correcting. You would only need a % of renters to sign up and then the snowball affect would kick in.

by stuart786786 | 25th May 21, 9:40am 1621892456

"It was steady as she goes in Barfoot & Thompson's auction rooms last week.."

Nothing new and is expected in winter but to note is that house prices are still HIGH and will be as long as RBNZ continues with the circus to please the investor category.

No one can help if Mr Orr is determine to wipe out FHB. All dictators have justification for their action, so will Mr Orr in tomorrows briefing to the press.

by AKLCrusader | 26th May 21, 1:50pm 1621993843

So put the interest rates up, that should take the fizz out of the market. Problem is, they have planned this. Asset inflation funds increased wealth creation through housing, leading to increased spending in the economy, leading to jobs. Govt and RBNZ knew this when they lowered interest rates and started the FLP. At least the RBNZ would have understood what they were doing........... Ardern probably not so much.

by mikekirk29 | 25th May 21, 9:50am 1621893047

REINZ total sales march and April total , 2019 = 24,182
2021, same 2 months = 21,007
Down 13%
Peak was December.
Sales falling . Price rises slowing. Predict price will not be rising at all in Auckland, by end of 2021.

by Brock Landers | 25th May 21, 10:35am 1621895705

The cure for high prices is high prices as they say...

Most FHB will realise a plane ticket to greener pastures is a pittance in comparison.

by Snodgrass Thro… | 25th May 21, 11:03am 1621897429

How's that prediction thing working out for you MikeKirk?
I've noticed over the years that predicting anything is rather difficult.
I predict this will continue.
My favourite was 2020 April/May when exactly 100% of us predicted markets would fall by varying amounts.
And 100% of us were wrong.
Ahh, consensus.

by realterms | 25th May 21, 11:24am 1621898665

Didn't go well for us, did it? Except perhaps xingmo. Maybe he's secretly a genius.

Or maybe the old adage about stopped clocks...

by richard1965 | 25th May 21, 10:38am 1621895936

Checking auction result. House prices were already high but now are insane. No sign of cooling and one does not need to wait for data or hide behind them as is evident from the auction result.

Unless and until Governor of Reserve Bank decides, this will continue. Unfortunately Mr Orr is the governor and being governor is powerfull and is successfully in pursuing his agenda and it seems, more the critisism more the rigidness on his part as has taken it personally, so is not ready to see wider picture.

His personal agenda is wiping the community, known as FHB particularly in Auckland.

Is he on some sort of personal vendetta against average kiwi !!!

by General Comment | 25th May 21, 10:44am 1621896298

"His personal agenda is wiping the community, known as FHB particularly in Auckland."

Ok now you're just getting emotional. That may be the outcome of his actions, but I strongly doubt he has some kind of evil plan to lock FHBs out of the market. Incompetence and ignorance are not the same thing as villainy.

by richard1965 | 25th May 21, 11:22am 1621898554

How many FHB can afford 1.2 million and still not controlling. Visit any auction room even now and check, how FHB are being tortured only difference is that gas chamber have replaced auction room.

by General Comment | 25th May 21, 2:32pm 1621909931

I did not dispute your assertion that FHBs are being priced out of the market, in fact I agree it is ridiculously difficult for them now. I disputed your assertion that Mr Orr had some kind of evil plan to specifically achieve this.

by AKLCrusader | 26th May 21, 1:53pm 1621994031

Perhaps he needs them to go into all those social houses he is building,
Maybe his plan is that all house sales will be social housing in the future. After all, The Government provides the solutions in a Command and Control economy and centralising is the answer to everything.........

by Snodgrass Thro… | 25th May 21, 9:16pm 1621934204

How many first car buyers can afford a car they can't afford Richard. See my point? Maybe not. Coincidentally I have a tenant named Richard who has English as a second language. If your landlord (hate that stupid bloody word) is coming down on Monday to supervise the installation of heaters then it's probably me. What a hoot.

by Fluffybunny | 25th May 21, 11:04am 1621897467

No, his agenda (along with the govt) is to encourage people to take out mortgage debt and have this flow through the country in lieu of migration and tourism. Its not a personal attack.

They lowered rates and loosened policy for a reason.

by Snodgrass Thro… | 25th May 21, 11:19am 1621898371

I really admire your passion and persistence Richard1965. Keep up with the EASL classes. Your message is often lost in translation but overall not too bad. Maybe varying the subject matter just a tad might help?

by richard1965 | 25th May 21, 11:25am 1621898751

FHB are systematically being screwed so not many ways to put it - different posistions but end result is same.

by Snodgrass Thro… | 25th May 21, 11:41am 1621899660

Richard, occasionally I get lucky these days but I can assure you nobody is being screwed by me on a systematic basis any more.

by richard1965 | 25th May 21, 11:48am 1621900109

Good on you.

by Nzdan | 25th May 21, 6:49pm 1621925347

Wait and watch.

by Carlos67 | 26th May 21, 7:08am 1621969696

The time for wait and watch is long gone, if you didn't act in the last 6 months your screwed. Cannot spend all your life waiting and watching because things are clearly getting worse and not better. Things always have looked tough out there but just when you thought it couldn't get any tougher, guess what ?