Residential auction activity eased off in the final week before the start of winter

Property / news

Little change in the sales rate but prices appeared a bit softer at the latest housing auctions

31st May 25, 6:50am by Greg Ninness

Auction activity eased off a bit in the final week before the official start of winter.

Interest.co.nz monitored the auctions of 359 residential properties around the country over the week of 24-30 May, down from 416 the previous week.

Of the 359 properties on offer, 137 sold under the hammer, giving an overall sales rate of 38% which was little changed from the previous few weeks.

However prices appeared a bit softer, with 34% of the properties that sold achieving selling prices equal to or above their rating valuations.

That was the first time in four weeks the selling/valuation ratio has been below 40%.

The selling/valuation ratio was particularly weak in Auckland at just 22%, and at rock bottom in Waitakere, Papakura and Waiheke Island where none of the selling prices reached their rating valuations.

Manukau wasn't much better at 6% and the expensive central Auckland suburbs only got to 18%. See the table below for the full regional figures.

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

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18 Comments

by NZGecko | 31st May 25, 11:05am 1748646359

Gaaaaawd, those sales values and volumes in the mighty Auk market have cratered! ....and still digging deeper.

Keen to see what's happens, when the new Auckland CVs hit and the greedy and bewildered Real Estate sellers/vendors see their expectations of moonbeams, get slashed by a council listed negative downdraft of -15 to -25 official Council Valuation!

Just watch the Housing Ponzi Pumper slimeballs say "ignore the CV" " it's not really a valuation" "get in now, as we all see the green shoots developing" - get a much of the banks money as you can, drain your Kiwisaver dry, indebt yourself into your 80's and 90s........the Vendors need their 500% housing gains materialised now, quickly, by your lifelong Debt burden.

Sorry to the garden variety Housing Ponzi Punters out there, this crash is about to pickup speed, as the "return to normal" phase has puttered out.

This epic, ounce in a generation, NZ Housing market crash will make the 1970s crash, look like a mild training run.

It will be written by poets and onto the history books, as to one of the great financial follies of modern times, that sucked in and tricked the masses into financial oblivion.

-Only eclipsed by the clog wearers of the Tulip mania era, of the 1600's.

by Zachary Smith | 31st May 25, 7:48am 1748634539

Saw a house in the week, in a good location, sell for more than 8% less than they paid in 2016. There is definitely no hurry to buy and bargains can be found.

by NZGecko | 31st May 25, 8:00am 1748635251

Excellent!!! Proof 2015 prices are back in fashion.

2012 prices are due back by spring 2025. Looking good NZ.

FHBs should take -20 to -30% off the current asking price or walk away. NEGATIVE EQUITY is not winning and could haunt you for a decade or more.

by rastus | 3rd Jun 25, 8:55am 1748897721

Have always been critical of the housing ponzi. However the real news here is that these numbers are the lead indicator that NZ is heading into a dire economic slumber.

I'm reluctant to celebrate, good people are going to be wiped out - I'm already seeing it.

by Retired-Poppy | 31st May 25, 7:57am 1748635079

Yes, this is more proof. With mortgage defaults at a 12 year high and rising, the last thing we need is a Black Swan event. Much discussion has been had about this being overdue. Its all looking rather vulnerable with ever more reliance on low equity mortgages.

by Nifty | 31st May 25, 8:13am 1748636006

To put it into perspective...

Non-performing housing loans (impaired, and 90 days past due) hit $2.42 bln at the end of April, a record high. As a proportion of all housing loans outstanding however, they only amount to 0.654% of the $370.2 bln owed

by NZGecko | 31st May 25, 8:25am 1748636747

Ahh haaaa, but grasshopper, you deny the TENS OF THOUSANDS of mortgages, that have been put on the ole "EXTEND AND PRETEND" pre-foreclosure situation?

I see grasshopper denies this.

Oh well it's your Bets on the NZ property ponzi at risk, so good luck with all that.....

by Nifty | 31st May 25, 9:04am 1748639066

What grass you been smoking?

by NZGecko | 31st May 25, 9:56am 1748642204

Certainly not any NZ Housing Market green shoots.........

by Independent_Observer | 31st May 25, 12:56pm 1748652962

‘Green shoots’ saying I find to be such a completely bizarre social phenomenon. Appears to be a term used by those desperately trying to find something out of nothing. Like it’s the middle of winter and you’re trying to convince others the roses are blooming. No they are not.

Even Nicola Willis used it the other day - sign of someone desperate to convince others growth is here to protect their own vested interest (in her case her political interest as finance minister). Wrt housing it’s been financial self interest by those who need capital gains to justify their investment decisions.

The massive and long yield curve inversion, if a reliable indicator yet again, would say meaningful growth within the economy or house prices is a few years away yet. The green shots people see might have been invasive weeds strangling the economy after decades of failing to care for the quality of the soils (aka economic settings and environment) that can produce future growth/prosperity, and not spring daffodils.

by tomjones_04 | 31st May 25, 8:13am 1748636019

I bought a place back in April. Did I over pay?... I don't think so. Was it in the location I wanted?...absolutely. Do I care about it's future value?....Not really. I bought it because I can afford the mortgage and the bank were obliging enough to lend me the money. It's a house!!, not an investment tool... Now I just live in it and enjoy it. I can't think of anything worse than studying it's value every week and calculate when it's time to leverage. Property market is dead. My advice- diversify your investments. I can't fathom 'topping up' an investment, that to me is crazy.

by Nifty | 31st May 25, 8:15am 1748636109

Where's all this cash going to go with savings rates dramatically falling?

Household bank accounts rose +$2.5 bln in April from March to be +7.1% higher than year ago levels at $262.1 bln. Savings account balances rose +$332 mln in the month and term deposit balances rose almost +$1 bln

by tomjones_04 | 31st May 25, 8:20am 1748636437

Unfortunately, because Kiwis don't know any different, straight into the residential property market, straight into a negative cash flow investment that requires topping up, and returns zero capital gains. This is exactly why we have a productivity issue.

by NZGecko | 31st May 25, 9:58am 1748642314

But will Kiwis Bet it all on a market that is Mid Crash, such as NZ Housing is?

With population growth declining and still a sqillion of empty homes for sale........ betting it all on the Ponzi like Housing market is best left to the slick willies like Mike Hosking.

Love Mike's, single handed, numpty like attempts to lift has own silly and sagging housing punts, out of the quagmire he got into.......very entertaining listening to his OBVIOUSLY self interested pro-property-ponzi rants. His veneer of financial objectivity is rice paper thin!

WHERE IS THE FMA? On Mike's very bad "buy housing" advice, over the last few years??

I'm sure it's helped lead many, to lose it all........fools and their money aye.

by kiwikidsnz | 31st May 25, 8:44am 1748637883

Doom & gloom through NI, SI cities consistently look better

by Middleaged | 31st May 25, 11:35am 1748648113

Why would any vendor, especially in Auckland, bother with an auction? There's about a 65% chance you just threw away several thousand dollars in fees for no result. Furthermore, if you do make a sale, the odds are that youll get less than you wanted.

Not quite so bad in Christchurch, however.

by IT GUY | 31st May 25, 12:11pm 1748650294

Because there is a 35% you will get a sale and many are in a hurry?

But agree in this market I think you would get a better price outside the auction process, as many cannot make an unconditional offer.

by IT GUY | 2nd Jun 25, 5:58pm 1748843898

Auckland new CVs this week