Barfoot & Thompson's February's sales suggest the Auckland housing market may be in for a disappointing summer, with a drop in both sales numbers and median price, and a surge in unsold stock.
The real estate agency, the biggest in Auckland, sold 685 residential properties in February. That was down from 700 in January, but up from 633 in February last year. This could probably be best described as a fairly lacklustre start to what is traditionally the busiest time of the year for residential real estate.
The median selling price also took a dip, down to $930,000 in February from $950,000 in January, and well down from $970,000 in February last year.
Barfoot's median selling price has now declined for the last three consecutive months and is $310,000 below its November 2021 peak.
However, Barfoot's average selling price increased to $1,107,006 in February compared to $1,053,446 in January, suggesting sales may have been stronger at the top end of the market compared to the bottom for the start of the year.
The most likely reason for February's underwhelming sales was the huge amount of stock Barfoot's is carrying.
The agency had 5997 residential properties available for sale at the end of February, the most it has had in any month of the year since 2011, putting stock levels.at a 14 year high.
That was in spite of the fact that 2073 new listings were received in February, which was down by 8.1% compared to February last year.
That suggests the buyer's market is still firmly in place over summer, with many properties languishing on the market.
Barfoot's February report characterised February's sales performance as "a quiet month's trading."
"New listings for the month at 2073 were solid, and a combination of new builds and occupied dwellings," Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said.
"At month's end we had 5997 properties on our books, the highest number for 14 years."
"A major contributor to the level of new listings is the continued number of new builds currently being made available for sale," he said.
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