Residential property auction activity took a surprising tumble at the latest auctions with the number of properties auctioned, and the number selling under the hammer, both declining.
Interest.co.nz monitored 291 residential auctions around the country over the week of February 3-9.
Of those, 102 properties sold under the hammer giving an overall sales rate of 35%.
Those numbers were both down on the previous week (27 January - 2 February) when 315 properties were auctioned and 131 sold under the hammer, giving an overall sales rate of 42%.
The first week of February is an important one on the real estate calendar because it is the first week of the main summer selling season, which lasts at least until the end of March.
Significantly, the sales rate of 35% was slightly less than the sales rate for the equivalent week of last year (4-10 February 2023), when 37% of the properties offered sold under the hammer.
And the auctions at the beginning of last year marked the start of a sustained property slump.
The latest rather weak auction results come after two other sets of data which may suggest a fairly soft start to the summer selling season.
Firstly, Realestate.co.nz has reported high levels of stock for sale at the end of January, while Auckland's largest real estate agency, Barfoot & Thompson, has reported a slow start to the year.
The Real Estate Institute of NZ's January sales data is due out next Wednesday. That should give us a few more clues about how summer real estate trade is shaping up this year.
The table below shows the latest auction results in each district, and details of the individual properties offered at all of the auctions monitored, including the prices of those that sold, are available on our Residential Auction Results page.
•You can have articles like this delivered directly to your inbox via our free Property Newsletter. We send it out 3-5 times a week with all of our property-related news, including auction results, interest rate movements and market commentary and analysis. To start receiving them, register here (it's free) and when approved you can select any of our free email newsletters.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.