Barfoot & Thompson's overall auction sales rate drops to 22%

Property / news

The number of properties being auctioned has been going up but the sales rate has been going down

5th Mar 22, 9:12am by Greg Ninness

The number of properties being auctioned by Barfoot & Thompson continues to increase, but the sales rate has declined for the second week in a row.

Auckland's biggest real agency marketed 242 residential properties for sale by auction over the seven days from February 26 to March 4.

Those numbers have been steadily growing as would be expected over February, with March usually being the busiest month of the year for the real estate industry.

However the number of properties actually selling at auction has been heading in the opposite direction.

Only 53 of the 242 properties offered in the last week were sold under the hammer, giving an overall sales rate of 22%.

In the previous week sales were achieved on 63 of the 215 properties offered, giving a sales rate of 29%, down from 33% the week before that.

At the latest auctions the sales rates around the Auckland districts ranged from zero in Papakura, where none of the 11 properties auctioned was sold under the hammer, to 33% in Rodney where six of the 18 properties offered were sold.

The slide in the auction sales rate suggests there is a widening gap between the price many vendors expect to receive and the price buyers are prepared to pay, which can make for some tough post-auction negotiations.

Vendors who are not prepared to be realistic in their price expectations my struggle to achieve a sale.

The table below shows Barfoot & Thompson's latest auction results by district.

The comment stream on this story is now closed.

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

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47 Comments

by Toye | 5th Mar 22, 9:21am 1646425269

Be quick.

by Averageman | 5th Mar 22, 11:52am 1646434343

Be quick, to pay fown you debt, but many didnt. Will be a laugh a day as the squealing from the Prop and Specu sector loudens over the coming months...

How do you spell "margin call" again...?

by Yvil | 6th Mar 22, 11:24am 1646519095

Since you're asking about spelling, you may want to check your own: "to pay fown you debt"

by Averageman | 6th Mar 22, 12:53pm 1646524400

Oh the horror...a typo. Is that all you've got?

by tothepoint | 6th Mar 22, 1:32pm 1646526744

Hi Averageman,

Your rotten spelling is the only thing that really stands out in your comments.

TTP

by lekkerbydiesee | 7th Mar 22, 1:16pm 1646612197

the tussle between property bulls and bears on this site has always been interesting, but when the bulls quote spelling errors as the only rebuttal, the game is over and its clear the bears have finally won. (probably for the next 5 -10 years anyway) Worth noting, the bears have been wrong for a desperately long time too.

by Yvil | 6th Mar 22, 2:53pm 1646531629

Well since you're asking for more, I could also say that

"Will be a laugh a day as the squealing from the Prop and Specu sector loudens"

Makes you sound very desperate, envious, full of schadenfreude and just a nasty person.

Happy now?

by Averageman | 6th Mar 22, 3:12pm 1646532723

Haha. Must be my turn to get hated on. Well no "bleeps" given. You both need to get a life.

by JimmyJames | 5th Mar 22, 9:39am 1646426364

Patiently waiting for the resident spruikers to spin that data ...

A moment of silence for the demise of the Papakura housing market. Sorry, they already did that in the auction room.

by Fluffybunny | 5th Mar 22, 2:08pm 1646442519

The vultures are circling. I smell some bargains in the wind... KAAARRRKK!!

by DTRH | 5th Mar 22, 9:40am 1646426425

More evidence of housing price crash, investors will continue to sell everything but have missed the top last year.over 30k houses on trademe today if you don’t need to buy just sit and wait as everything will be on sale for next year or two.with inflation high and interest rate up and will be climbing for next year or two it’s looking very bleak for housing market.

by Nifty1 | 5th Mar 22, 9:50am 1646427038

Will the RBNZ & govt come to the rescue though...very likely.

by DTRH | 5th Mar 22, 10:34am 1646429698

With inflation high RBNZ will just have to follow FED who are going to raise rates or NZD will go for a tumble making inflation even higher. Emergency low rates were only temporary and will go back up just a lot of people and investors got caught up with FOMO just hope they made plenty on way up as it’s going to be painful for them on way down.

by Hardly | 5th Mar 22, 7:06pm 1646460395

I agree. The RBNZ’s hands are tied. Inflation is their first priority and they are so far behind where they need to be. This Ukraine situation will make things so much worse.

by tothepoint | 5th Mar 22, 12:45pm 1646437516

It's a correction - not a crash - after a long/sustained period of buoyancy in the housing market.

Those who forever expect to pick up a house for a song will continue to be disappointed - an emotional state to which they've become well-accustomed.

TTP

by HouseMouse | 5th Mar 22, 12:56pm 1646438176

It's a correction for now, but it could turn into a crash.

by tothepoint | 5th Mar 22, 1:22pm 1646439733

Hi HouseMouse,

Personally, I'd love to see a crash happen, because I'd love to pick up a little villa in Ponsonby for a song.

But my wiser judgement tells me that a crash is hardly on the cards and that Ponsonby villas will continue being damned expensive to buy. ☹️

TTP

by Fluffybunny | 5th Mar 22, 2:15pm 1646442929

There will always be high end properties selling for high end money.

But Most people cannot and do not look for inner auck villas.

Watch the contagion now move South from Auckland.

These economic headwinds are not going away any time soon. The correction has set in. With the promise of increased loan servicing, People will not want to pay more than those before.

Your comments suggest you view crashes in prices as something that will happen over a month or two? But that's not what usually happens. It's a long slow process, as people capitalise relative to starting positions and circumstances. This will take months, perhaps years.

by DDDDebt | 6th Mar 22, 2:38pm 1646530722

It's more than a correction... It's the bursting of the bubble and the end of the myth that prices can't go down

It was only a matter of time... it had to happen at some point... we are not productive enough at anything (apart from swapping houses with each other) to justify having the highest house prices in the world.

by Yvil | 6th Mar 22, 11:29am 1646519382

Well said HM

by DTRH | 5th Mar 22, 2:09pm 1646442583

Interest rates have only started to go up from emergency levels add inflation on top it’s going to get very hard to keep up payments on million dollar mortgages if rates go up another 2-3%. Only way housing is going for next few years is down.I would say we will be in crash territory in next 2-3 months

by lekkerbydiesee | 6th Mar 22, 11:09am 1646518170

i actually agree with you. The affordability index won't change much. The cost of servicing a half size mortgage at double the interest remains the same.

I note, the the correction is going huge, as it should be, since capital gains were seriously out of context. I reckon prices are going halve in the next 12 months. not only NZ, but throughout anglo-saxon countries. This oil shock is going to plunge the planet into the biggest depression of our lifetime. See IMF latest forecast.

by Notgreedykiwi | 5th Mar 22, 9:47am 1646426862

House prices need to come back to the 2019 levels. The world didn't had much progress in last two years of pandemic.

The localized greed with low interest has taken prices to stupid levels which are not sustainable.

Either we get them corrected now or we are creating a bigger catastrophe.

This government has been a disgrace for pooor in the history of NZ.

by Averageman | 5th Mar 22, 9:57am 1646427446

I can see lasts years low interest fueled stupidity being washed away this year. As it should be. Inflation is rampant, so wage increases are all but baked in otherwise NZs working population will be paying tax jn Aussie in the near term.

Time will tell.

by Nifty1 | 5th Mar 22, 10:01am 1646427675

Why are B&T still persisting with auctions, clearly it's not working & starting to look abit embarrassing...

by Jaf | 5th Mar 22, 10:07am 1646428049

Its often the RE agencies that push for auction as they get to grab upfront heftier fees for marketing, auction etc. Even if property does not sell at auction, they are not out of pocket.

by RealAgent | 5th Mar 22, 1:39pm 1646440756

Check this out https://youtu.be/BBPemCWZaIM

by Averageman | 5th Mar 22, 10:08am 1646428092

Agreed. In the phase we are moving into auctions are WOFTAM.

by Carlos67 | 5th Mar 22, 10:15am 1646428520

Fundamentally its because its a faster sale and the RE gets their commission faster in just 3 to 4 weeks of marketing then bang its sold. Works really well for them and the seller in a HOT market but now in the current market its a no go really. Sales are now going to be a long and drawn out negotiation process as the properties will be coming on after the auction with a listed price.

by Zen20 | 5th Mar 22, 10:24am 1646429088

But there are some on here that maintain that the houses not sold under the hammer are sold soon afterwards with a quick negotiation

by Nifty1 | 5th Mar 22, 10:33am 1646429590

Interestling enough, I enquired regarding an Auckland property for negotiation - the agents had apparently had multiple offers in the first week and already accepted an offer. Seems like it may have more effective & quicker than auction...

by RealAgent | 5th Mar 22, 1:36pm 1646440604

Just saw this, this is the future for sure https://youtu.be/ifPOiI7uBw8

by hum | 5th Mar 22, 2:58pm 1646445483

Lots of make up going on in there.

by HouseMouse | 5th Mar 22, 10:22am 1646428953

Miserable.

I think it's quite likely that my central prediction of a 5-10% fall will be wrong, and my second most likely scenario of a 10-20% fall will occur.

by lucenera | 5th Mar 22, 10:25am 1646429133

I would go much further than that.

Being afraid of paying 100k too much is a more powerful emotion than hoping to make 100k of capital gain.

Down movements are more powerful and quick than upward ones.

by Nifty1 | 5th Mar 22, 10:28am 1646429306

Do you see Orr & Robertson jumping in though and bringing the market back to life? We've seen what they're capable of doing...

by lucenera | 5th Mar 22, 10:38am 1646429886

Well... I could foresee the removal of LVR, or reinstating interest deducibility.

The first one would not make much difference in the mid term, the second one is politically very difficult to sustain for a left govt.

But yeah, you'r right, they might step in and try something. But not many bullets are still available.

Other than that... in less than 2 years is election day and even if I appreciate that ususlly voters have only 4kb of memory it is paramount for this government to do something leftist, otherwise (hopefully) they will see some TOP as mp (and maybe even need to look for a coalition with them)

by Whatwillhappen | 7th Mar 22, 4:06pm 1646622390

With houses the big numbers aren't real at the time. I've been thinking about paying my parents back on a loan they made a few years back. Crunching the numbers, $2000 a year ($40 a week) will see it gone in 10 years, but the opportunity cost of that $2000 is huge for my family. Yet people throw $100k around like it's nothing.

by Notgreedykiwi | 5th Mar 22, 10:26am 1646429212

10-20% fall doesn't bring justice to wider society and will not be in how stable economy will work.

More like 35% to bring in line with levels of 2019 to early 2020.

by HouseMouse | 5th Mar 22, 11:07am 1646431652

I agree. However I am offering opinion on what I think will occur rather than what I would like to occur.

by Yvil | 6th Mar 22, 11:35am 1646519758

NGK, the market doesn't move because of what you think is "just" or "right" or "fair"

by AJ123 | 5th Mar 22, 2:03pm 1646442233

If the rate goes below 20% and fed takes the first step toward rate increase on 16 March then definitely drop of 10% can be expected in coming winters.

by DDDDebt | 6th Mar 22, 4:08pm 1646536108

I agree it's not going to stabilise if the Fed puts up rates

It's already down 9.3% since Nov in the auckland price index so what's that look like annualised?

by ex agent | 5th Mar 22, 2:37pm 1646444245

I have spoken to two agents in the last week where I live. My daughter is looking for a bigger home for the family. The agent who showed us around said the housing market was experiencing a pretty big reversal. Far less inquiries and buyers were struggling to get finance. Went to a wedding last Saturday and the one I spoke to there said his inquiries were down 75 per cent. This had happened in the last three weeks or so. With interest rates rising, the cost of living rising and the difficulty in getting a home loan times are changing. Those who missed out on buying a home should continue to rent. You might not buy at the bottom but you will be buying cheaper compared with the insane buying times of last year.

by Yvil | 6th Mar 22, 11:22am 1646518943

22% sales rate is awful although not that surprising with buyers unable to get credit and sellers unwilling to discount. In early January I said that we will have record number of housing stock for sale by end of March… of course many here mocked me

by Nifty1 | 6th Mar 22, 3:41pm 1646534496

Looks like Auckland's CV's have been released... wonder if this will have any impact on the market. People seem to take it as an estimate of value, for a period of time anyway...

by Carlos67 | 7th Mar 22, 4:17pm 1646623052

Had a pretty negative impact here when it finally filtered through to the various websites. The timing is probably not great as it makes it hard to determine what caused the drop, is it the new RV which should have come out way back in June and released Oct/Nov or the recent drops or a combination of both. Some pretty big adjustment appear to have been made around the new RV. You would see the new RV as being the minimum sell price.