A third sold under the hammer at Barfoot & Thompson's latest auctions

Property / news

Barfoot & Thompson's auction sales rates range from 21% in Waitakere to 55% in Rodney

19th Feb 22, 8:46am by Greg Ninness

Both the volume of properties being offered at auction and the overall sales rate at Barfoot & Thompson's auctions increased this week.

Interest.co.nz monitored 205 Barfoot residential property auctions over the week of 12-18 February, up from 187 the previous week.

The sales rate also edged higher, with sales achieved on 67 properties last week giving an overall sales rate of 33%, up from 27% in each of the previous two weeks.

Around the Auckland region the sales rates ranged from 21% in Waitakere to 55% in Rodney (see the table below for the full district results).

We are now into the peak summer selling season and although buyers are certainly being more cautious than they were last year, agents report there is still good interest in mainstream properties, and those realistically priced are selling well.

Barfoot & Thompson is Auckland's biggest real estate agency.

You can see the individual results for all of the properties offered at the auctions monitored by interest.co.nz on our Residential Auctions Results page.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

Barfoot & Thompson Residential Auction Results
12-18 February 2022
	District	Sold	Not Sold	Total	% Sold
	Northland	6	2	8	75%
	Rodney	6	5	11	55%
	North Shore	11	32	43	26%
	Waitakere	6	23	29	21%
	Central suburbs	16	38	54	30%
	Manukau	15	27	42	36%
	Papakura	2	6	8	25%
	Franklin	5	5	10	50%
	Total	67	138	205	33%

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66 Comments

by Dgm | 19th Feb 22, 9:10am 1645215032

The tide has turned, there will be extra demand for floats.. The weak will start to succumb

by tomjones_04 | 19th Feb 22, 9:19am 1645215585

Auckland ‘proper’ is clearly struggling. It looks like confidence has been shaken. This psychological factor will be even more powerful than the fundamentals of rising interest rates and the constricting CCCFA

by tothepoint | 19th Feb 22, 12:00pm 1645225247

Today we have further evidence that whilst the housing market is cooling (as fully anticipated) it will deliver another soft-landing - the same as 2017/18.

”Resilience” is a word that comes to mind…..

TTP

by DTRH | 19th Feb 22, 9:58am 1645217926

Cooling a bit like a ice cube first it cools next minute the whole thing’s gone.

by JimmyJames | 19th Feb 22, 10:45am 1645220752

Another DGM rant. Lucky there are optimistic people in this world who believe house prices will become more aligned to salaries so people who provide goods and serives in our economy can enjoy home ownership. Why are you so opposed to young people not having to take on so much debt so they can focus on the raising of families and generally enjoy a better quality of life?. Sadly, I feel you miss the point that there is more to life than debt slavery.

by Independent_Observer | 19th Feb 22, 10:48am 1645220880

When you work for property brokers then pretend to be a renter (while also likely having a rental portfolio), one can become confused as to where their moral compass falls.

by JimmyJames | 19th Feb 22, 11:19am 1645222787

Ha, very true. It must be hard presenting the most fatuous and contradictory online persona for so long, using slanted manipulative language for your own self serving benefit. At some point you would get lost and confused in your own circular lies.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 11:25am 1645223127

He personifies everything wrong and sleazy with property and real estate, and this country!

by tronic | 19th Feb 22, 11:13am 1645222428

Jimmyjames Your suggesting productive members of our society should be able to afford a home to live and raise future productive members so we have a equitable and peaceful society. Scandalous!

by JimmyJames | 19th Feb 22, 11:37am 1645223868

So true. It is scandalous in some quarters. It seems fine to celebrate astronomical debt servitude these days and the out right deprivation of home ownership so masters can live off the energy of others. History defines it as slavery which was … some what of a scandal.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 10:20am 1645219231

The only doom and gloom is what FHBs see when they look at these absurd prices and contemplate having to leave the country they love.

by Amokk | 19th Feb 22, 11:38am 1645223910

You said it Tim!!! To the moooooon - Property Brokers and director ordered to pay $1.5M for price fixing | NBR

by tomjones_04 | 19th Feb 22, 11:44am 1645224279

Gosh he looks like a troll too

by Brock Landers | 19th Feb 22, 11:39am 1645223990

The housing market does have some soft times ahead.

The word "flaccid" springs to mind.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 11:45am 1645224340

Hehe.

The market is heading for a flaccid landing.

by tothepoint | 19th Feb 22, 11:26pm 1645266379

"The word 'flaccid' springs to mind."

Once again, the DGM demonstrate the level of sophistication they bring to the dialogue.

TTP

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 7:21pm 1645251694

Keep trying. And please don't leave - this website would be a bit boring without the nonsense you and CWBW spout!

by Amokk | 19th Feb 22, 8:44pm 1645256660

You said it Tim!!! To the moooooon - Property Brokers and director ordered to pay $1.5M for price fixing | NBR

by Zachary Smith | 19th Feb 22, 9:25am 1645215900

Some people are still paying top dollar. The results aren't as bad as I thought they would be.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 9:47am 1645217273

What were you expecting?

There will be a steady decline through the year, very unlikely to be an overnight crash.

by tothepoint | 19th Feb 22, 10:00am 1645218052

Gosh, HouseMouse, that’s a significant shift for you.

A short while ago, you were adamant that the housing market was about to crash. 💥

What’s caused you to become less pessimistic? Been looking at the data?

TTP

by tomjones_04 | 19th Feb 22, 10:23am 1645219389

Hi TTP. Serious question. What would your advice be to the 70% that didn’t sell. Hold your price and try again? Drop your price 5% and try again? You can see how this causes price drops right…surely?!? Prices will remain resilient as long as people choose to hold. If they want to sell however, they will need to drop their price.

by Zachary Smith | 19th Feb 22, 11:20am 1645222846

Not many people try again in the sense of trying another auction. They usually put a price on it and sell the old fashioned way. That price will be significantly higher than any bids that were rejected.

by rjn1 | 19th Feb 22, 11:53am 1645224794

That price will be significantly higher than any bids that were rejected.

So it still won't sell. Do you understand how a market works?

by Zachary Smith | 19th Feb 22, 12:04pm 1645225475

LOL, heaps of people try to sell at auction, fail and end up selling for significantly more. It's almost a rule. I've seen it many, many times. Actually I paid 160k more for the house I live in currently than the top bid at the auction. Within a few months I realized I got a fairly good deal.

Do you understand how the real estate market works?

by Carlos67 | 19th Feb 22, 1:44pm 1645231451

That's weird, every case I have encountered the seller should have taken the top auction bid. My mother is currently looking at a place that failed to sell at auction and its now worth way less in the current market. Seller are still thinking the market is skyrocketing, its not. Sellers end up taking less than the top auction bid when they suddenly get realistic and have to sell. The place is sitting their empty, they clearly need it sold.

by Zachary Smith | 19th Feb 22, 2:10pm 1645233007

A lot of people say that auctions are not be the best way to sell. It's just the agents being lazy. Agents themselves have told me to not let the agent at the auction push you into lowering your reserve. That means you will likely get more if you are patient.

You will almost definitely get more if you sell by negotiation later however there will be more conditions. Obviously you wont if your initial price expectations are unrealistic. In a falling market it is harder.

I would say for every ten auctions I know about that were passed in nine sold later for more than the final bid.

However I would be interested in other people's observations.

by swapacrate | 20th Feb 22, 11:16am 1645308995

Tried to sell my house in UK in a falling market, had to drop the price to get the sale. Not sure how your logic works. In a falling market raise price, sounds a bit as if sky is purple.

by Zachary Smith | 20th Feb 22, 11:37am 1645310276

See below. The final bid at an auction is not the "market price". It was passed in because it didn't meet the market price. Sometimes bidders are clowns trying their luck. They don't represent the whole market. Probably just one or two people on the day.

I went to an auction where the highest bid was 500k. The property later sold for 1.3M.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 10:24am 1645219479

You need to keep up old man. As do the people who upvoted you.

I have been very clear on numerous occasions over the last 3 months that I think prices will probably drop 5-10%. I have also been clear that there is a reasonable possibility of something significantly worse.

Wouldn't you like that, as a renter who wants to buy?

by JohnnyM | 19th Feb 22, 12:04pm 1645225467

Given the housing markets abrupt shift from material expansion to contraction - with increasing rates, credit restraints, tax changes and growing mainstream awareness to this market shift - what event/s are you expecting to occur in the next few months that would limit the decline to your 5-10% forecast?

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 3:26pm 1645237591

House price movements tend to be a lot 'stickier' on the way down.

My bearishness on the extent of OCR hikes has been stated many times.

If the OCR goes north of 2.5%, as most people think, then I can easily see falls of 15-20%.

by JohnnyM | 19th Feb 22, 12:51pm 1645228270

Annualising the current rate of decline - with our current settings - results in double-digit declines. Assuming the trend continues, it seems to suggest that further changes to OCR would not be required to limit the drop to 5-10%.

Anyway, genuine question so thanks for answering.

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 1:09pm 1645229381

Yes, but trends are not usually consistent or linear.

by JohnnyM | 19th Feb 22, 4:10pm 1645240212

Yeah, that's my point. I'd expect things to get worse from here given "increasing rates and growing mainstream awareness to this market shift".

Certainly an interesting year ahead!

by Amokk | 19th Feb 22, 11:37am 1645223835

Shot Tim - Property Brokers and director ordered to pay $1.5M for price fixing | NBR

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 11:39am 1645223945

That's probably why he's renting, naughty boy.

by Pragmatist | 19th Feb 22, 8:15pm 1645254937

If ttp is Tim, he ain't renting. Tim's got a nice place down by Hokowhitu Lagoon, or did when the initial allegations came out anyway.

by Nzdan | 20th Feb 22, 6:43pm 1645335801

It's amazing what sort of information you can find on the companies register.

by WellingtonInvestor | 20th Feb 22, 2:48pm 1645321704

There will always be people that need to sell and if they can't they will have to accept the best offer at the time. This maybe substantially lower. Prior to 2020 many houses in the Wellington region were selling for far less than the homes estimate. Houses selling at lower prices set new benchmarks which agents use to talk sellers down on price. Whether the current housing situation is a bubble, we will learn over time but they were fuelled by emergency low interest rates causing the largest property price inflation in recent times. So it wouldn't be a surprise if there was a price crash, but overall the prices will still likely be alot higher than they were in 2019

by Smudge02 | 19th Feb 22, 10:11am 1645218714

Funny how some people are happy to ride the property wave for decades, but then when there is talk of things changing they wake up each day saying "Ha, nothing happened, not that bad". For something unsustainable to change, it doesn't necessarily happen overnight. Seems many are more wishing or hoping that we are through the worst!

by Nzdan | 19th Feb 22, 5:38pm 1645245524

Some people are still able to pay top dollar because they're selling/buying in the same market. Price is not really a determining factor except for the margin they receive when downsizing or pay when trading up.

by Tillers | 19th Feb 22, 9:29am 1645216152

What a surprise that houses that are realistically priced are selling well!!!

by Averageman | 19th Feb 22, 9:40am 1645216817

More listings. More auctions failing. More pricing being actually listed. More new construction, creating more supply. More foreign speculators exiting. More young fa. Payers planning to exit to Aussie or further. More debt repayment with ever higher rates and limits on interest only. More bad news on foreign stock and debt bubbles (we follow the leaders). All in all more headwinds.

Is now the time of the greatest "bull trap" in history?

by tothepoint | 19th Feb 22, 10:01am 1645218119

Just another DGM rant.

TTP

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 9:48am 1645217321

Hehe

by VTHO | 19th Feb 22, 6:26pm 1645248408

I don't think so. To me it is simply a list of facts. Do with it what you will.

by Nifty1 | 19th Feb 22, 9:46am 1645217193

Come on...this is normal for this time of the year. The holiday period has just finished and people are returning to work, wait until March...

Lol

by HouseMouse | 19th Feb 22, 9:50am 1645217445

Surely an excuse can be found for March?

It will be impact of omicron.

The excuse for April is Easter.

by Dgm | 19th Feb 22, 9:58am 1645217899

In May it will be ."it may get better "

June, queens birthday and matariki

July-August, winter

by Smudge02 | 19th Feb 22, 10:07am 1645218456

Bound to be a full moon in there somewhere.

by DTRH | 19th Feb 22, 10:11am 1645218719

33% sold 67% disappointed wasted time and money.supply up 28640 for sale on trademe 10% surge in a week.interest rates on the way up, inflation up I’m surprised they sold 33%

by CWBW | 19th Feb 22, 11:03am 1645221791

Prices has recovered firmly into the black as expected from the usual red January month.

We are seeing a good run into March.

There's still room for upward valuation and there are gains to be made easy when competition is soft.

Labour's credit squeeze will hurt your buying power after this season,

Be Quick!

by DTRH | 19th Feb 22, 11:32am 1645223551

Do you make your boys work weekend with you.

by Notgreedykiwi | 19th Feb 22, 11:40am 1645224058

Yes yes.. Get the cancer.

by Amokk | 19th Feb 22, 11:43am 1645224220

Found the problem with your boys' champ - maybe get them off the ganja for a bit Australian Crawl - Boys Light Up (1981) - YouTube

by Crazy Horse | 19th Feb 22, 5:31pm 1645245096

Be Quick ! ......to lock yourself into mortgage slavery for life, while your new asset slowly decreases in capital value ....sounds like a great financial plan to me.....no thanks mate, rather buy a campervan.

by Carlos67 | 19th Feb 22, 6:03pm 1645246984

Its not slavery but if that's the way your mind works, good luck. Some of us borrowed money and leveraged off the banks and don't need to live in a campervan

by Crazy Horse | 19th Feb 22, 8:41pm 1645256511

Carlos67 ..... I will stick up for FHB's to the end, and in saying that, I would be very wary what you can get in Auckland for your $1 mil. right now (and with interest rates rising and more to come) as it does not represent value for your money and with ALL the other factors at play around the world, I personally would be buying in no rush at all, and taking my time, as the Auckland market is now like a bus stop - there will be another along in 5 minutes. Actually I heard Tony Alexander on the radio, Friday and he was virtually saying the same thing - now that he no longer works for the BNZ and is independent, his comments are really quite accurate and honest....as now he's not pushing the bank's wheelbarrow.

I gather you bought in 2019 in Tauranga - goodonya, you will not regret it, in fact enjoy the fact you finally have your own home.

by Notgreedykiwi | 19th Feb 22, 11:40am 1645224015

I am surprised, there is no comment From Orr's personal secretary, Y...

by VTHO | 19th Feb 22, 6:27pm 1645248463

CWBW commented above.

by Zachary Smith | 20th Feb 22, 7:48am 1645296521

I discussed above how passing in at auction is often the best course of action. This was surprising to some so I thought I would gather some facts.

My challenge was to go through the B&T auction results and find the first three passed ins with bids that have subsequently sold that I can find the prices for. Would those first three I find have sold for more or less?

Here is the result:

42 Exler Place

Passed in at 1,100,000 Sold later for 1,170,000 +70k

22 Kohinoor Ave

Passed in at 1,020,000 Sold later for 1,375,000 +355k

16 Tuhaere St

Passed in at 4,550,000 Sold later for 5,000,000 +450k

I think I could find a lot more. I haven't found one that sold for less yet although I did find a couple of lower cost units that are still for sale for not much more than their passed in bids.

by Nifty1 | 20th Feb 22, 1:27pm 1645316863

When you bid you start low, especially if there's no one else bidding and/or the property isn't on the market. There's no point in bidding up higher. When the auction passes in you then have the opportunity to negotiate, having a better idea of what the vendor wants and an opportunity to buy.

What you've shown doesn't indicate if the property infact sold higher/lower than the reserve price/vendor expectation.

by Zachary Smith | 20th Feb 22, 11:50am 1645311009

No it doesn't indicate anything about reserve price but I wasn't trying to prove that. Up in the comments thread I write that the selling price will often be considerably higher than the last rejected bid. This seemed to put some people into a tizzy. Your comment actually endorses my observation which I thought was just a well known fact, law of nature type of thing, up until yesterday.

And anyway, at least I went out and gathered some data. That's got to be worth an upvote!

by Wiseguy | 21st Feb 22, 12:26pm 1645399572

Just days ago, ' significant drop in median house prices' and now, suddenly the market is picking up, purely speculative.

by Carlos67 | 21st Feb 22, 3:08pm 1645409324

Pretty much like all the spin and propaganda coming out of the USA on the state of their economy. You have to be very careful of the fake news and people trying to talk up the market. If the people believe it then it will be so kind of approach. We are pretty much forced to look at the actual state of the nation months afterwards as otherwise the story just changes from one day to the next.