Auction results: Harcourts auction clearance rates ranged from 63% to 80%

Property

Harcourts sold 80% of their Auckland and Wellington auction properties in the week before Easter, two thirds in Hamilton and Christchurch

30th Mar 16, 2:04pm by Greg Ninness

Harcourts auctions sales rates ranged from 80% in Wellington to 63% in Christchurch last week.

In Auckland 60 homes were marketed for auction last week with 47 of those selling, giving a sales rate of 79% and in the Hamilton auction rooms nine of the 14 homes were sold giving a sales rate of 65%.

Wellington had the most successful sales rate last week, with 16 of the 20 auction properties selling, giving a success rate of 80% and in Christchurch almost two thirds of last week's auction properties were sold.

In Auckland the most expensive sale was a house at Northcote on the North Shore which sold for $1.81 million, pipping at the post a couple of others that sold for $1.8m.

In Hamilton prices ranged from $415,000 to $825,000, while in Wellington only two properties sold for more than $1 million and a house in Levin fetched $112,250.

In Christchurch prices ranged from $75,000 for a tenanted, one bedroom unit in New Brighton sold on an "as is" basis, to $2.03 million for a house in Cashmere.

See below for the full results:

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62 Comments

by Triple | 30th Mar 16, 5:45pm 1459313121

Actually 47/60 = 78% not 80%.

And how come none of these auction results show a "SA" for sold after the auction? More twigged results no doubt to make the market look stronger than it really is.

by SpaceX | 30th Mar 16, 6:43pm 1459316621

Market is going bananas. Ron Fong Choy was right.

by gordon | 30th Mar 16, 6:52pm 1459317171

Not what I am hearing SpaceX. Getting worse in fact. Very few overseas buyers. They know sentiment is changing and are watching from the side lines as more comes on the market. My niece has still not sold. Prime 3/4 acre home with harbour views. Owned less than a year.

by SpaceX | 30th Mar 16, 7:13pm 1459318419

From what I hear on this website everyday, the market is going to be busier than 2015. It's that simple, nothing has fundamentally changed since then, no reason for the party to stop, in fact as interest rates continue to fall, people will borrow much more.

Good for you, bad for me as a first home buyer.

by Triple | 30th Mar 16, 8:10pm 1459321834

SpaceX, you are completely full of shit!

by SpaceX | 30th Mar 16, 10:43pm 1459331025

I'm just regurgitating what is reported on this website.

by Triple | 30th Mar 16, 10:53pm 1459331603

No first home buyer talks of there's "no reason for the party to stop", that's not the language of someone missing out.... you are full of it and have vested interests.

I've been in property for over 20 years and I know BS when I hear it.

by Zachary Smith | 30th Mar 16, 11:06pm 1459332360

It must be tough though. I was thinking where might be a good place to buy one's first home in Auckland and came up with Massey. I heard prices may have retreated there recently. I did a search in TradeMe and came up with this which at first glance looked sort of reasonable with asking price of 600K.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction…

Yet CV is 375K making the asking price 60% above. That's pretty typical of this type of house. It would seem quite a risk really.

by xelnaga | 31st Mar 16, 1:02am 1459339332

Disclaimer: Grew up in Massey

New mall generated lots of hype last year. Dollar signs in everybodies eyes. Agents talking it up breathlessly. Perhaps now waking up to the fact it's just another souless mall and it's still Massey.

Suspect that a number of the upmarket new builds coming through the pipeline have been skewing the average suburb figures recently also.

Risk should be evaluated on a timescale of years. Could say the whole of Auckland is risky at these income multiples.

by KH | 31st Mar 16, 2:14pm 1459386873

I do hope Chaston charges Zach Smith for the free real estate listing.

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 11:18am 1459376321

Trust me Triple. I'm not full of shit. I'm trying to get on the ladder and if shit keeps going in the direction it is, then it'll be time to look for a new country to move to. Trust me, it's beyond fucked when you save 90% of your income and you still cannot make any gains towards getting a house.

It's depressing

by Zachary Smith | 30th Mar 16, 10:41pm 1459330906

I saw the first five houses go to auction at Barfoots today and they sold for an average 39% over CV. I think you are right SpaceX and low interests rates have hurt the FHB more than helped them in Auckland. The typical house a FHB would be interested in is way over priced. It is also the house that one wants to live in so will be fought over and demand a premium. Low interests rates have pushed house prices up and made them even less affordable than before.

by Triple | 30th Mar 16, 10:58pm 1459331881

SpaceX is no first home buyer. Nothing he writes adds up - which typically means he has vested interests, just like many other spruikers on this site.

In fact some idiots with vested interests would probably have 2 alias' to try and be clever and influence naïve readers.

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 11:20am 1459376417

I don't own anything. And my bank savings are returning less and less every month. And yet prices keep going up, I want a crash but that's not going to happen, I was hoping for a stagnant market, that's not happening either.

by Hardworker-doe… | 31st Mar 16, 12:07pm 1459379222

Whether what you are saying is true or not, it is definitely an actual reality. I spent a bit of time on here on Sunday explaining that I'm currently working 3 jobs (on lunchbreak now and stupidly checking in on here for false hope) and will need 5-6 years doing exactly this, consistently to even get close to the $120K deposit I'll need for the $600K shed somewhere. Sunday I was heading for a breakdown. Today, I don't know. I had a lot of good feedback from here from people starting to realise the very scary reality us renters face for retirement and just wanting a humble home for shelter when we stop working. My thoughts are at the moment it's time to quit at least one job and having a life again. You just wonder why you are doing it when looking at whats going on, I may need $240K in 5 years time as a deposit. 10 years with a life on hold is starting to make me feel sick.

by Kakapo | 31st Mar 16, 12:45pm 1459381555

If you do the full analysis on quitting one of the jobs, you may find that you won't lose as much money as you think. I've no clue what the jobs are, obviously, but how much travel is involved? How much time and money does that travel cost? Do you have to buy special clothes or equipment for it? What's the actual hourly rate once you've factored in the time and expense? All questions to ask when evaluating which to quit.

Being exhausted and sleep-deprived isn't the best state for clear thinking and decision-making, and on Sunday you definitely sounded like someone needing a bit of a break.

by rastus1 | 31st Mar 16, 12:53pm 1459381990

..Organise a national rent strike. The people in control wish to push the young to breaking point. Get cracking on social media and orgnanise a national rent rent strike. Get the message that property speculating is not risk free - watch the market correct then.

Do what the workers did when I was younger...power by numbers. I can't see any other option - no one is acting on this property crime and you guys are getting screwed.

by sadr001 | 31st Mar 16, 12:59pm 1459382372

if by rent strike you mean tenants give their landlord notice, then i don't think you'll have much effect.

If perchance you mean refuse to pay then that is why we have the inexpensive tenancy tribunal which has the power to make awards of monetary damages, if your landlord is going to take you to court for not paying rent anyway he might as well add any other minor stuff that he wouldn't normally bother with. If the property that you live in is managed by an agency then you'll also have a black mark by your name in their records. If the strike is of any significant size i foresee rental agencies sharing data.

by Independent_Observer | 31st Mar 16, 1:10pm 1459383026

The oppressor has spoken...

by rastus1 | 31st Mar 16, 1:18pm 1459383504

..na, the oppressed are too quiet. I'm fine, but I hate seeing the 1% ers dicking our young around. My father and his generation fought and died for me........and what do we do for our kids?? Sit back and watch them get screwed by hopeless policy and greedy politicians.

by Independent_Observer | 31st Mar 16, 1:41pm 1459384896

The problem still remains that JK only does what pleases the voting majority. And they're BB's who own a lot of rental properties...

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 5:34pm 1459398893

The problem is young and poor people don't vote. Giving free reign to Key and the selfish generation.

by rastus1 | 31st Mar 16, 1:13pm 1459383215

...if enough sign up the tribunal will be powerless. Its called anarchy, its how progress can be made when an authority will not listen to the masses.

by Kakapo | 31st Mar 16, 1:29pm 1459384143

I'm sure the banks would be totes patient and generous and understanding about the non-payment of all those highly leveraged rental mortgages for a few years while the Tribunal tries to climb out from under a backlog of thousands of eviction proceedings and appeals.

by sadr001 | 31st Mar 16, 2:50pm 1459389012

more like a few class actions will be derived based on the material circumstances of each case and they'll all be done together. Any loss that can be proved to have been a direct result of tenant action is likely billable to the tenant.
Also in a worst case scenario landlords will lose 90 days of rent (that being the eviction notice period for rental properties in NZ) which will be covered by their insurance. Most landlord insurance policies provide for up to 6 months of lost rent cover I believe.

by Kakapo | 31st Mar 16, 2:58pm 1459389512

Yes, I'm sure the insurance companies will be lovely and cooperative about paying out for thousands of cases without trying to get out of it, and all the billed tenants will pay up, no difficulties at all.

by sadr001 | 31st Mar 16, 3:11pm 1459390278

when the alternative for the tenants is bankruptcy... (which lasts for 7 years and comes with attachment orders on all payslips)

Insurance companies probably value their clients enough to pay out without too much fuss, especially as it'll be well below their re-insurance limit and people with landlords insurance tend to have multiple policies (home, car, contents, rental property1, rental property2, etc...).

Bear in mind that landlord insurance is essentially house insurance and as such has 6 or 7 figure policy limits and appropriate underlying re-insurance. Additionally in paying the landlord the missed rent the insurance company essentially purchases the tenant's debt from the landlord and can then pursue the tenant for the money.

by Kakapo | 31st Mar 16, 3:13pm 1459390393

Well in that case, don't worry your pretty little head about it. It's not as if you've got more to lose.

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 7:01pm 1459404115

I hate to say this...but it might be time to get the hell out of Auckland or NZ...I know it's not solution but no one should be subjected to this. I have half a deposit and my GF has the other half and even I feel hopeless. I went from less than 10k savings beginning of 2015 to almost 55k today. This country is F'd mate.

by Chairman Moa | 31st Mar 16, 12:46pm 1459381595

SpaceX, I am bit surprised that no suggestion has been made to you about investment in gold (or even in bitcoins)

by Clarence68 | 30th Mar 16, 9:00pm 1459324815

Where is the house, Gordon? Sounds lovely. Is it high end? There are some very smart places not shifting round us. Vendors asking for silly money and it only seems to be nosey locals turning up at the open homes.

by Zachary Smith | 30th Mar 16, 10:49pm 1459331360

Prime 3/4 acre home with harbour views is not your typical home. I believe Gordon once said it was around two million but it would be interesting to know what the CV is. My feeling is that such a home is worth around 20% over CV. Desirable typical low to mid range homes in Auckland with no issues are selling for 30-50% over CV.

by Randomman | 31st Mar 16, 12:50pm 1459381833

I'm thinking it's off the SW mway with a peek of the manukau. Better of building a couple of houses then selling them all of separately. .

by xelnaga | 30th Mar 16, 7:38pm 1459319907

Why give that assclown the publicity he craves?

by SpaceX | 30th Mar 16, 10:43pm 1459330990

Got to give credit where it's due. I was optimistic about a flat market that would finally let me get a house...but nope. All that hope diminished now. It's frustrating.

by xelnaga | 31st Mar 16, 12:19am 1459336797

February and March are always peak months.

Hong Kong Phooey said May would bring the return of the money launderers, not February. No credit due.

He was just advertising his little landlord school anyway.

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 11:21am 1459376490

Last year the market was still going bananas in May, no reason to doubt that won't happen again.

by xelnaga | 1st Apr 16, 12:07am 1459422459

Probably. But this March doesn't feel as stupid as last March. Less money launderers around so far.

by Triple | 30th Mar 16, 7:10pm 1459318204

For anyone who wants to know some "real/honest" under the hammer results -

B&T auctions this week:
Bays and Central 8 sold from 14 = 57% success
Manukau 14 sold from 28 = 50% success

The authentic numbers tell a slightly different story.

by Penguin | 30th Mar 16, 7:21pm 1459318872

The news coming out of Melbourne apartment market although slightly sensationalistic in the way it has been reported certainly will make people more cautious. Prices tend to go down much faster than they go up.

As a matter of note London Property statistics are showing Chinese buyers are about 25% of what they have previously been. From what I hear that is probably fairly similar to what is going on here.

by Cowpat | 30th Mar 16, 8:33pm 1459323192

Auckland listings have dropped 11 percent since end 2015. As to whether that is due to property being removed or sold the upcoming churn rates sale vols will offer insight. As an aside Waiheke Island has surged in price and listings have plummeted. Land has become very scarce . For many relocating Aucklanders and migrants Waiheke may potentially offer significant upside

by bloodymigrant | 30th Mar 16, 11:02pm 1459332135

Where is the house Gordon?

by Zachary Smith | 30th Mar 16, 11:18pm 1459333130

We need the figures to assess the situation! The auction results tell us a different story to Gordon and ex-agent. All around me the signs have big sold stickers on them. Some houses sold in two weeks. I'm not really a spruiker either, I actually want them to cool a bit and stabilize.

by gordon | 31st Mar 16, 6:51am 1459360276

In a place the size of Auckland you would expect some houses to sell. The REINZ monthly reports have been telling us for some time that the sale volumes are down in numbers from their peak. In Auckland that is.

by CJ099 | 31st Mar 16, 11:53am 1459378404

Yes I agree, we really need to get clarification on what is actually happening with the housing market (Even if the focus is on Auckland)?

So we all know there's been two main factors that drive the housing market. 1) Overseas investors; when the new regulations came in to force last Oct the Auckland market dramatically dropped by around - 8 to -10%.

The other main market driver is First Time Buyers; These have been more recently encouraged back in to the market by banks lowering interest rates (Plus the bank of Mum and Dad), which I think is currently propping up the housing market.

So to get clarification on the situation. Is there any way to get the recent figures on Overseas Investors now that they have to register their purchase here?

by SOLD to the hi… | 31st Mar 16, 12:18pm 1459379889

My house is being sold by auction on Saturday. Trust me. There's no shortage of buyers in Auckland. First home buyers and investors. Auckland is pumping.

by Zachary Smith | 31st Mar 16, 1:22pm 1459383767

Please report back and let us know how it goes.

by SOLD to the hi… | 31st Mar 16, 1:36pm 1459384595

I can tell you now. It will be sold for three times what I paid for it a handful of years ago.
That's my retirement sorted (at fortyish).
And for the grumpy naysayers, this was my first house. I scrimped and saved on one income to buy it and every week was a struggle in the first year. It's never been easy. I won't ever be easy.
But there's a place for everyone who wants one. You just have to really want it.

by xelnaga | 31st Mar 16, 1:47pm 1459385275

Sounds to me like its three times harder than a handful of years ago...

by SOLD to the hi… | 31st Mar 16, 1:56pm 1459385762

Well there's one thing for certain. It won't get any easier. Simple economics tell you that.

by Independent_Observer | 31st Mar 16, 2:06pm 1459386404

Simple economics - what an oxymoron!

Why are you selling if you are certain that it won't get any easier? Would that imply you think houses are going to become more expensive? And that salaries will not. And yet you're selling.

by Randomman | 31st Mar 16, 3:24pm 1459391090

I'd guess thst you bought post gfc when prices were still subdued, you had less than 20% deposit before banks tightened up on fhb, and that you got in a semi decent outer suburb with a decent plot of land, say 600sqm. Ask yourself if you could buy anything now with that same deposit?
The goalposts have moved further away and gotten narrower for a lot more fhb these days so don't assume we don't want to work for it, it's just a different market we're up against. .

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 5:37pm 1459399031

We're up against greedy and unpatriotic New Zealanders and Chinese foreign buyers. Just give up and move to Perth.

by BadRobot | 31st Mar 16, 6:06pm 1459400809

And you are one of them....

by SpaceX | 31st Mar 16, 7:04pm 1459404240

Why am I one of them?

by CJ099 | 31st Mar 16, 5:00pm 1459396826

Well I hope you don't have children otherwise you may find that you have to down size or give up your retirement plan to help them afford a home in NZ.

by SOLD to the hi… | 31st Mar 16, 3:35pm 1459391748

The market is just as tough. I had a student loan and 20% deposit that I saved by working my butt off for. I also bought in a very average suburb a shoebox on a postage stamp. The GFC didn't affect my suburb so prices never dipped. The problem with those who assume is they also moan. Just get on with it. There are houses for sale everywhere. I saw an opportunity and now I see the opportunity to sell up and diversify my portfolio. I can buy three houses in Tauranga with better yield. Why wouldn't you.

by Independent_Observer | 31st Mar 16, 3:50pm 1459392623

I love how Joe Average kiwi investor thinks that diversifying means to own 3 properties in a city instead of one.

We are walking, talking, financial comedy!

by dictator | 31st Mar 16, 3:56pm 1459392968

You should change your username to Bootstrap Yourself.

by ian64 | 31st Mar 16, 3:51pm 1459392700

why don't you get a job instead? Or start a business? You know, something good for society? No. screw everybody else.

by SOLD to the hi… | 31st Mar 16, 3:54pm 1459392890

This diversified investor has shares, bonds, overseas market investments and additional Auckland property as well as high yielding rentals. I call myself diversified. Yes. I am simply adding to that diversification. But thanks, again for assumptions.

by BadRobot | 31st Mar 16, 6:17pm 1459401443

Only problem is the house they own represents a large portion of most people's wealth. Most people do not have much in the way of "other" assets. If you want to invest in property buy units or shares in the listed property companies, otherwise there are heaps of good company's to invest in.

The whole market thing comes down to one concept supply and demand - look how things have changed in the dairy industry, oil, metals .....