No sign of spring bounce at Barfoot & Thompson's latest auctions

Property / news

Fewer properties on offer at Barfoot & Thompson's latest auctions but the sales rate was steady

17th Sep 22, 6:00am by Greg Ninness

There were fewer properties on offer at Barfoot & Thompson's latest auctions but the sales rate remained unchanged at 23%.

Auckland's biggest real estate agency offered 64 residential properties at its auctions in the week of 10-16 September, down from 73 the previous week.

Of those, 15 properties were sold under the hammer giving a sales rate of 23%, exactly the same as the previous week.

The latest results suggest that winter has not finished with the housing market yet, and anyone hoping for the traditional spring bounce in market activity will likely have to wait a bit longer.

Details of the individual properties offered at all of the auctions monitored by interest.co.nz, including the selling prices of those that sold, are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

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39 Comments

by Dgm | 17th Sep 22, 6:43am 1663353793

There is starting to be a spring slide with even àgents and vendors accepting that there are some tough times ahead..

by Matt_09 | 19th Sep 22, 7:31am 1663529469

With the greatest respect to b&t their auction process is the worst out of the big brands and results reflect this. Have a look at Cooper&Co on Auckland’s north shore for an example of a better operator in this space. No doubt the market is falling, and failing(!), but when the process is run properly with trained salespeople, an engaged auctioneer throughout the whole process the results reflect this

by JimmyJames | 17th Sep 22, 7:09am 1663355364

Property investor vampires are rattled as interest deductibility is being phased out. There is a lot of fear, doom and gloom coming from that "community"

by Dgm | 17th Sep 22, 7:15am 1663355751

Have the tables turned? The specuvultures are now the DGM's !!!!

I better change my name, don't want to be clubbed with them

by JimboJones | 18th Sep 22, 9:59am 1663451979

The vulture DGMs have almost disappeared from this forum. Maybe no longer able to afford an internet connection, or maybe too busy rearranging their finances. Or maybe they cashed out at the right time and are now living in a tax haven paradise island somewhere.

by Dgm | 18th Sep 22, 10:56am 1663455378

Are you at an internet Cafe?

by Averageman | 17th Sep 22, 7:30am 1663356600

That the normal surge in sales at the arrival of spring is being stunted is quite telling.

With the removal of cheap drug like debt, and the loss of tax rinsing, the engines of speculation have failed. Spec land is to bloated with debt to fly, and let's face it the price drop back to yield making sence is a big one. Auction is a good test to the market price but doomed to fail with sellers still in denial.

Just wait untill DTI is introduced....

by Dgm | 17th Sep 22, 7:37am 1663357034

Banks attitude have already started to change with ANZ and Westpa CE sounding bearish... it's clear those thoughts are reflective from the top

More burn...

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/nz-economy-is-not-rolling-over-anz-…

by Brock Landers | 17th Sep 22, 7:43am 1663357401

The prophet had great wisdom.

by lowercase capitalist | 17th Sep 22, 8:55am 1663361747

They hated him because he told the truth.

by Fitzgerald | 17th Sep 22, 9:19am 1663363192

I used to think that the Prophet was being too extreme, talking about 7% mortgages.

Now it seems that 8%+ mortgages are baked in.

by fortunr | 17th Sep 22, 2:00pm 1663380037

7% mortgages is a certainty.

8% mortgages? I personally still think that it is pretty unlikely. The NZ housing Ponzi would implode too quickly, under such pressure. I think that the RBNZ will try and make sure that the return of NZ housing to sustainable levels will be as managed and as gradual as possible - so I see mortgage rates stabilizing around the 7% mark, and staying there for quite a while.

by Independent_Observer | 18th Sep 22, 11:35am 1663457709

Given how little control the RBNZ has had over house prices on the way up....I find it very unlikely they will be able to control human irrationality/sentiment on the way down.

If they allow prices to rise by 30% in a year, then equally I can see that prices could fall 30% in a year and the RBNZ would only flinch if this caused the unemployment level to rise to an unsatisfactory level from their perspective. If a few FHB get cleaned up in the process, I don't think they would care one bit.

Watching the US housing market tank during the GFC firsthand, I learned a lesson that once prices start falling, often the Fed/central bank has to wait until the herd collectively regather themselves - regardless of how much mortgage rates drop. Mortgage rates were dropping for quite sometime before house prices turned upwards once more. Its like turning a massive merchant ship around...it doesn't happen on the spot....there's so much momentum of human emotion (fear of future losses) involved.

by swapacrate | 18th Sep 22, 11:47am 1663458470

If they only showed such caution and care while they threw gasoline on the fire and ruined generations to come.

by Carinaz | 17th Sep 22, 8:12am 1663359175

Right time introduce DTI but will never do....wait and see

by Brock Landers | 17th Sep 22, 7:28am 1663356506

The parasite eventually kills the host.

by fortunr | 17th Sep 22, 2:01pm 1663380112

This is one of the best comments. Upvoted.

by RealAgent | 17th Sep 22, 7:35am 1663356905

23% is anything but steady sales... especially when you add back the auctions that get pulled prior because there was no one registered to attend. Every agent is saying the same thing "in private", the market is DEAD.

by DTRH | 17th Sep 22, 8:22am 1663359774

Just 15 sold at auction in Auckland for one week with around 12000 properties for sale in on trademe that’s 0.0012%, if that rate of sale was repeated for the year 780 would be the total, so over 15 years of stock in Auckland if we only sold by auction. Be quick.

by swapacrate | 18th Sep 22, 11:49am 1663458575

🤣🤣🤣🤣

by Davo36 | 18th Sep 22, 12:07pm 1663459654

You have to add in all the other real estate agencies. Plus non auction sales.

by lastlegs | 17th Sep 22, 7:39am 1663357186

ACTs promise to restore interest deductibility looking like the only crash helmet available for landlords.

by RickStrauss | 17th Sep 22, 8:20am 1663359620

Gotta let them bludge off working Kiwis who'd be left paying the bulk of the taxes again.

by Rob Reid | 17th Sep 22, 12:41pm 1663375315

Surely there is at least one other "hope": Open floodgates, and packing 2 immigrant families into each rental and another in the garage to put a floor under the markets until the good times return. Welcome to NZ - Aroha.

Haha!

by Smudge02 | 17th Sep 22, 7:56am 1663358168

Thinking that a change in season is going to have any effect on the housing market in the current environment is just wishful thinking.

There were many saying that if we were to ever get into our current situation with OCR/interest rates etc the economy would collapse, probably the same ones that had their fingers crossed for a spring revival.

by Carinaz | 17th Sep 22, 8:10am 1663359047

Now what...real estate lobbyist....so called experts and independent economist.

by Richardfromauckland | 17th Sep 22, 8:18am 1663359499

It seems next year's election is going to be closely run. Will national actually go through with rolling back interest deductibility if they win? It feels like we've got a chance to change attitudes towards property - really hope the foot isn't taken off the throat.

by JimboJones | 18th Sep 22, 9:51am 1663451486

Hard to see it as a vote winner isn’t it. Especially if it is bringing in some decent income by then. If labour counter nationals tax cuts for property investors and polluters with tax cuts for everyone, surely the latter would be more popular.

by SND | 17th Sep 22, 8:29am 1663360199

I'm wasting my time going to auctions. Even with the top bid they end up being passed in.

When we bought our previous house in 2019, agents kept telling us auctions were where the market was. Suddenly it's not anymore?

The poor results seen lately are obviously due to sellers not accepting where the market is today (i.e. 5 to 20% below CV depending of the region).

by phalanax | 17th Sep 22, 9:46am 1663364795

Is it possible that frenetic auction bidding played its part in inflating the marketplace? Ive never been in favor of vendor bidding thats for sure...So hard to figure out what price your looking at when the listing is 'to be auctioned'. Looking forward to seeing 'asking prices' reappear as the dominant in the RE marketplace again...if I had my way Auctioning RE would be banned because I believe its too easy to influence/corrupt the process. The only time I would view an auction as appropriate would be for distressed sales. Id consider Tender selling to be harder to manipulate . Waits for the scorn of the masses...lol Regardless ,I suspect there will be a return to asking prices in the adverts and I rejoice....

by Jaf | 17th Sep 22, 10:43am 1663368233

Time for the Commerce Commission to scrutinise auction practices . Vendor's Bid? How on earth can vendor buy his own property ??? Why announce price bids at levels at which they will never sell to a bidder??? Phony bids!!! Misrepresentations? Misleading? Perhaps a requirement that auctions should have a declared Reserve Price .This should flush out dodgy practices in current auction process.

by Rob Reid | 17th Sep 22, 12:49pm 1663375740

I suppose vendor bids are really just a signal that reserve is not yet met.

The auction game does seem to be becoming more of a time waster for vendors and buyers, but nobody is forced to play.

by Nzdan | 17th Sep 22, 11:27pm 1663414041

Well to be fair, the Vendor Bids are not allowed once the reserve price is met. Phony bids are also not allowed, but imagine it's impossible to police.

by Rob Reid | 17th Sep 22, 12:32pm 1663374730

In the pic, I like the look of surprise on the auctioneer's face that he caught a bid. :)

by Gummy Bear Hero | 18th Sep 22, 9:29am 1663450162

.. that's not a bid ... she's signaling to the auctioneer that she's spotted the repo men in the street hooking up & towing his Lambourghini away ...

by JimboJones | 18th Sep 22, 9:54am 1663451647

I’m surprised he even bothered picking up the gavel.

by Davo36 | 18th Sep 22, 12:10pm 1663459846

I wonder if the B&T agents tell their new listings "You've got about a 1 in 4, or 1 in 5 chance of selling on the day. Just sign here to commit yourself to a $5k marketing package and a $40k sales fee"

by wozmad | 18th Sep 22, 8:40pm 1663490458

Are agencies allowed to put sold stickers on their advertisement boards when in fact its the vendor has withdrawn the property? house near me been on the market since May. they were wanting far to much. offers over 1.1 million right below high voltage power lines being overlooked by 5 other houses

https://homes.co.nz/address/auckland/albany/1-11-roanoke-way/vbBN0

Said it had been withdrawn on trademe

by Davo36 | 19th Sep 22, 7:50am 1663530643

I think 'withdrawn' on the TradeMe platform might just be when you remove the listing from TradeMe.