Barfoot & Thompson's October sales figures suggest the Auckland housing market could be heading for a quiet summer

Barfoot & Thompson's October sales volumes were the lowest they've been in an October month in 12 years.

The real estate agency, which is by far the biggest in the Auckland market, sold 627 residential properties in October, the lowest number in any October since 2010.

In October last year Barfoot's sold 814 properties and in October 2020 it sold 1319.

October was the fifth consecutive month the agency's monthly sales have been at 10 year-plus lows.

There is no sign of the market coming out of its current slump in the latest figures, which also show there were only 1371 new listings in October, That was only 5.3% above September's levels and down 31.9% compared to October last year.

There is usually a significant increase in new listings in October as the market starts to crank up for summer.

However buyers will still have plenty of choice because the agency had a total of 4743 residential properties available for sale at the end of October, the highest number since April, and up 56% compared to the same time last year.

Price movements were a bit mixed but remained weak, with the agency's average selling price declining by $27,870, from $1,164,852 in September to $1,136,982 in October.

Barfoot's average selling price has now declined by $141,665 from its December 2021 peak.

Going against that trend the agency's median selling price increased by $28,500, up from $1,064,000 in September to $1,092,500 in October. However, the median price was still down by $147,500 from its November 2021 peak.

"A level of stability has returned to the Auckland housing market albeit one trading at a lower level than during peak activity in the last quarter of 2021," Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said.

"The median sales price for October at $1,092,500 was consistent with where prices have been at for the past three months," Thompson said.

"While it represents a fall of 12% on the all time high residential median price in November, the median price has now stayed within a 4% range for the past four months.

"Sales numbers are also starting to edge up, and October's sales of 627 are 2.1% higher than those for September and 3.8% higher than the average number of sales for the previous three months.

"They are modest improvements but represent a degree of confidence returning to a market that has been under price scrutiny and rising mortgage costs for much of the year," Thompson said.

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