Barfoot & Thompson, Auckland's biggest real estate agent, says it sold more houses in December than it has in the final month of a year for five years.
The company said it made 714 sales in December, up 190, or 36%, from 524 in December 2010. It's Barfoot & Thompson's highest volume of December sales since it sold 781 properties in December 2006.
Its average December selling price was NZ$573,071, up 1%, or about NZ$5,500, from November. That was topped last year only by March's NZ$581,190, and is up NZ$43,389, or 8%, from NZ$529,682 in December 2010.
“December was extremely active, and it has given early momentum to January’s market,” said Peter Thompson, Barfoot & Thompson's managing director.
“In part, the strong finish to the year was assisted by there being three full weeks of trading leading up to Christmas.”
That said, Thompson said the market remained "restrained” with house prices increasing only modestly, with the difference between the average price achieved for all of 2011 NZ$543,124, or 2.5% higher than for 2010.
Lowest average monthly new listings for more than a decade
Thompson also said the number of houses being listed for sale remains low.
"December’s new listings at 846 followed the normal seasonal pattern of being low compared to previous months, but the average number of new listings each month for the 12 months was 1,220 - the lowest average number for more than a decade and 7.7% lower than for 2010," said Thompson.
“We also finished December with only 4,583 homes on our books, the lowest number at a month’s end for four and a half years, and 1,282 fewer homes than at the same time last year.”
For the first quarter of this year Thompson predicted the Auckland housing market would probably follow a similar pattern to last year, with prices increasing modestly and new listings remaining weak.
“Further out prospects for a more active market are positive," he said.
“The population of Auckland is growing and new house stats remain low, leading to the city facing a major shortage of accommodation. As the national economy improves, and people become more confident in their personal financial situation, they will act on their housing plans, and this will lead to the market becoming more active," said Thompson.
Barfoot & Thompson's announcement on its December sales comes after Quotable Value said yesterday house values in the Auckland region rose 4.3% during 2011 and ended the year at their highest level ever, 1.4% above the previous peak of late 2007. QV said the average sales price in the Auckland area over the last three months of 2011 was NZ$525,532.
See Barfoot & Thompson's full press release here and its suburb and area breakdown here.
Barfoot Auckland
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40 Comments
It's a mixed bag across the board really... if you look at the percentage differences for the two '12 month' periods: (ie. 2010 vs. 2011)
- -5.7% Rodney
- -3.9% Eastern Suburbs
- -3.0% Central
- -1.5% Franklin/Manukau
- 1.6% West Auckland
- 3.4% North Shore
- 5.2% South Auckland
- 5.5% Pakuranga/Howick
- 8.5% Central Suburbs
Some good performances there, but also some disappointment.
I'll say this before Wolly and some others do - don't believe a word of what the real estate spin tells you and it's all lies orchrestrated by the bankers- it's not true that property is holding it's value and prices are actually in major decline because that's what's happened in America.
Barfoots report a 2.5% increase in 2011. So no gain in real terms.
Yes central Auckland performed very well - so what thats only small part of market. I also hear that central London is doing ok with rich greeks looking to find a safe haven. Means bugger all for the vast majority of the market
Auck is the biggest part of the market - confident Aucklanders are good for NZ.
By the way - you may or may not remember that Auck was the first market area to turn down - and as usual its the first to pick up. Cycle is repeating - Auckland leads - the country follows.
I have to say I have never seen anyone on this site more desperate thank SK to protect his or her patch. It is rather pathetic as there are far more important issues in NZ currently such as child poverty, our growing national debt and the Christchurch disasterOne would hope that house prices increase each year just to keep up with inflation otherwise we are all going backwards. In fact if inflation is around 4% we either stood still in some areas and went back in others. Who cares. At least we have not suffered from constant earthquakes such as they have had in Christchurch. To get on this site and gloat over rental increases and supposed increases in property values shows just where SK's heart lies.
Did you notice that this is not an article about child poverty - why dont you write one Mr Altruistic?
Over time my contrarian view has been constantly and enthusiastically bashed by all and sundry round here - now when all the evidence clearly proves me right - people throw the toys out of the cot and have a good sulk?
Reminds of Australian sports teams!
Don't worry SK I am with you. We should celebrate as our investment has paid off so far and it is a good thing that we keep investing wisely. I am really pleased to see well presented houses in good Auckland suburbs and school zone achieving great selling prices. Cheers to the increase in Auckland property values. Shelter is a basic requirement of all mankind after-all so we the demand will always be there especially foreigners coming in looking at our house prices and say, "Wow, houses are so cheap here compared to the motherland~"
I don't usually say this to like minded people, but play the ball not the man ex-agent. What SK is going to learn, the hard way, is that its not money that makes people happy, its people and relationships. Thats what I believe anyway. I know people with loads and loads of money and they are significantly less happy than I am. The things that money can't buy you will find are the most important, and the best things in life are free.
Sorry about that MK. I was at the end of my tether when SK was gloating about last years rent increases and his or her anticipation of this years increases. If such rentals exist of course. It might just be BH using another name to spark discussion. If SK is an actual person such gloating when people in NZ are generally struggling with finances is not a good look.
ex agent, money allows one to choose the level of misery he/she wants to live it. It's also free world, so if anyone is gloating about his wealth, well let him be, we are in NZ not North Korea. Remember, it's no different from your wild posts in the past i.e. thousands of empty properties in Waikato and you made heaps of money selling properties blah blah blah!
This is the future if the realestate sector has its way:
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/04/144641849/indonesian-economy-booms-its-in…
remember too that getting some rich ones over here won't affect the local house prices as (the National Minister believes) immigration doesn't affect house prices (although in the case of returning ex-pats it does). Woohoo!~
having said that abandoning city limits (letting the belt out) is the cure for housing unaffordability (despite geographic constrains) and we can buy a plastic harbour bridge and nucleur power plant from China (taxpayers can pay for that too)... WooHoo~
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