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Auction sales eased back last week suggesting the peak summer season is drawing to a close

Property
Auction sales eased back last week suggesting the peak summer season is drawing to a close

Barfoot & Thompson's auction numbers and sales rate dropped back slightly in the last week of what is usually the busiest month of the year.

The agency marketed 155 properties for sale by auction in the week from 25 to 31 March, compared to 174 in the previous week and 161 in the week before that.

That suggests sales could already be starting to wind down as the peak summer selling season comes to an end and we head into autumn.

The sales ratio was also lower with sales achieved on 35 of the auction properties, giving an overall clearance rate of 23%.

That compares with a sales rate of 29% in the previous two weeks.

At Barfoot's major auctions where at least 10 properties were offered, the highest sales rate of 30% was at the Shortland St auction on March 26 where most of the properties offered were from a mix of central and west Auckland suburbs such as Grey Lynn, Avondale, Mt Albert and Ranui, while the lowest sales rate at the major auctions was also at Shortland, on March 28, where most of the properties offered were from central Auckland suburbs such as Remuera, Mission bay, One Tree Hill, St Heliers, and Onehunga and the sales rate was 8% (see chart below for the full results).

Details of individual properties offered and the outcome of their auctions are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

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Barfoot & Thompson Auction Results 25-31 March 2019
Date Venue Sold Not Sold Total % Sold
25-31 March On-site 3 9 12 25%
26 March Manukau 6 20 26 23%
26 March Shortland St, CBD. 3 7 10 30%
27 March Shortland St, CBD. 11 30 41 27%
27 March Pukekohe 2 5 7 29%
28 March North Shore 6 23 29 21%
28 March Kerikeri 0 1 1 -
28 March Shortland St, CBD. 1 11 12 8
29 March Shortland St, CBD. 3 14 17 18%
Total All venues 35 120 155 23%

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67 Comments

So March sales were strong.

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I’m a DGM but that percentage is below even my expectations.

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didn't realise we're related..

hohum, time to hibernate and wake up in Spring...

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Aussies going down Maybe the budget Lilly scramble will help improve sentiment https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/melbourne-ho…

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No surprises here The great example would be (even though it is not an auction) 2/47 Tamaki Drive, Mission Bay . It is currently on sale for $1425000 . It was bought on 6 June 2018 for 1150000 . And after prices have fallen in this area by about 4% this 'investor' wants to make a gain of $275000 just in 9 months of falling market. Just get real , and your sales rate will go up again

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I guess some mothers do 'ave 'em

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Classified as a S12 sale so needs a council investigation as below the CV by a large margin. Wonder what the body corp fees are? At $1.15m I'd buy it any day of the week.

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Ex Expat, if you wait long enough the vendor will willingly accept your generous offer.

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"Ex Expat, if you wait long enough the vendor will willingly accept your generous offer.": in the manner of ain't half hots sergeant major mimicking and mocking

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Little bit of a misleading example as this vendor has done a full make over of property. Would not have spent 275k but you are not comparing like for like in this circumstance. Still agree vendors are in cases not being realistic

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Interesting username, but a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Mr Leverageup.
I don’t suppose you have seen this recent Westpac advertisement from Australia? Things are a little bit different in property over there at this moment in time and the banks have now taken on a totally ‘new focus’ for their target audience.. you could say it’s somewhat different to the NZ strategy - where i’ve just seen an ‘own that home’ (chant) ‘till we make it own!’ provided by one of their rivals over here.

https://youtu.be/98fGH5D_WGg

I wonder if ‘leveraging up’ was a contributor to the separation in this Westpac example? Interesting to see that Westpac (not wanting to miss an opportunity) are still there to ‘lend a little’ more after the relationship has broken down... it’s worth a watch and does make you think (given the experiences that many are now seeing in australia) about whether the banks should actually be allowed to dominate the airways with loan advertising, particularly when they are the only businesses legally allowed make a profit From created money?

Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Joe Wilkes

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What a terrible add...only a bank could stoop so freken low. Can they stoop any lower than that?

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Hi Joe, It might disappoint you to hear that although I see the merits of debt used wisely and understand its importance in the capital structure, my user name was more an ironic take on the debt fueled property binge NZ'ers are obsessed with. Not that i blame them, or the banks really. Policy settings/failures from local and central government have created an environment where that was the main game in town, and it doesnt really look like changing any time soon. Blaming banks is just a distraction, for while the numbers (debt level/profits etc) are large, they are just facilitating transactions that a fueled by poor policy.

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@andreas_od

I got an alert from Ray White about this property saying “Auction cancelled priced to sell below CV”

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@andreas_od

I got an alert from Ray White about this property saying “Auction cancelled priced to sell below CV”

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Ex Expat, this information is for you . Make a bid

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has it been renovated? Pretty easy to spend $500k updating a tired old property to current standards.

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Miserable. And not steady.

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I know somebody that will insist otherwise....

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Starting to wind down? They never wound up.

Auction clearance rates in Australia are considered disastrous at below 50%. We're below half that. The taps have turned off, here comes the crash.

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Interestingly enough, i looked at the Domain results for Australia yesterday.. clearance rates in Brisbane and Canberra were 34%...

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For those that would like a bit of data on the top end of the market. I had a specific look at the Remuera's 'for sale' and 'for rent' market just over a week ago. For such a lovely place, I was a bit surprised that so many sellers didn't want to live there longer.

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Great vid Joe, thanks. The top end definitely in trouble.

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Why are RE's still asking vendors to go to auction, clearly the process is not working. The excuse is price discovery. When it fails to sell at auction which is very often, then the property is put on price by negotiation, minus a price guide of where it sits. I find it strange this has gone on for so long, only thing consumers are expected to buy without a price or price guide. Seems like a waste of time really. If someone really wants to sell, put a price on it and let the buyer decide if they want to pay that much. Blind leading blind here and the RE gets paid $20,000 + for doing bugger all.

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I didn't consider it a waste of time when I was one of the 25 % that sold under the hammer recently. Auctions should be considered only part of the selling process. To my mine I would still rather have an unconditional sale any day. The other 75% were just unrealistic and are likely to get a fight when they do put a price on the property and find there are no buyers at the level they are looking at. That's when they are really wasting their time.

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Why are RE's still asking vendors to go to auction, clearly the process is not working.

Well you assume the process is not working. It is.

It's a system designed by agents, for agents. For them, it's working very well.

Because if a property gets passed in, they have a crestfallen vendor whom they then put the acid on to 'meet the market'. The failed auction is one big conditioning process. The vendor has spent thousands on advertising, hoped it would sell on auction day, made their plans to move and so on.

And now they have to go back to square one...

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Especially the vendors who may have an offer on another place (their dream home) conditional on selling their current property.

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Many years ago I worked in real estate for a while (started only weeks before the '87 crash) and I had the privilege of working with an old RE guy who knew exactly which side was up. He told me that auctions we actually little more than advertising for the real estate agent, paid for by the client. No wonder they push them.

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Whats the bigger issue - that a drop from 29% to 23% marks the end of peak season, or that a high 20s/low 30s clearance rate is the height of peak season?

Good old struggling Sydney, going through the biggest drop of property prices on record achieved 60% over the weekend. Bless those poor souls!

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Yep this peak selling season has been a huge failure!

The question must now be how bad will Winter sales be?????

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They'll be great.. like a briscoes sale, 40% off lowest marked price :P

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When we last sold at this time of year in 2016, near the peak of the bubble, I think it was around 80% auction clearance...
No doubt this will mark the start of the phase of prices sliding as vendors become more realistic. Better to take a 5-10% drop now, than 15-20% later.

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And that is precisely what happened after the '87 crash, it took till people were in desperate straits before the would drop prices to meet the market, meanwhile they had paid a whole more in interest than they would have had they been realistic at the outset. Mind you, hindsight is nearly always 20-20

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Wow. Can’t even say “holding steady” at a third. That’s really low for busiest month.
Here’s were the eternal property bulls start saying, prices will only go down 5-10% and then bounce. She’ll be right.

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23% Auction clearance rates in March! Terrible results! It's going to be a cold Winter!

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So I guess we can expect clearance rates of mid teens through the winter months. Don't worry, not long until spring and things pick up.

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LOL

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Market ticking over - with usual fluctuations.

TTP

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As an agent, what are your thoughts for where the market goes from here ?

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Ha-ha-ha :)

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Ticking over.. like a v8 with two bung spark plugs, a tank full of old gas, and timing out by 15 degrees..

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Ticking over? The only thing Ticking here is the Property market bust bomb that is about to go off. ha ha

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TTP, ticking over, that’s a good one. Just a scratch.

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Guys, it's just a seasonal fluctuation.. it will bounce back.

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Oh no Chairman, TTP beat you to it, just by a gNats whisker.

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That cheeky monkey, we got up and he said "stay in bed and I will make you a cup of tea".. he posted his comment to interest.co.nz instead!

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Hahahahaha, he just can't be trusted.

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Unsure why some people here are so anxious about the current steady/stable market.......

Would they prefer a highly active market - with large price increases - as was the case between 2013-2016?

Since 2016, we’ve witnessed a very soft-landing - with no crisis whatsoever. That, in my view, is a very good outcome.

TTP

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Yoi have hit the nail with that answer TTP, there is no pleasing some.

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Has it landed yet, or is the trajectory starting to point down, with the landing gear only starting to be engaged. Could be a bumpy landing, with those cross winds.

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"giving an overall clearance rate of 23%. That compares with a sales rate of 29%"

No, it does not, it is 20% drop.

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The article said "That compares with a sales rate of 29% in the previous two weeks."

You left out the end of the sentence.

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Huge drop in listings on RE.co.nz. Auckland listings down 300 in a day and a half.
It is because of a huge surge in sold properties.. or people giving up on the idea of selling?

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Two week school holidays coming up at the end of next week so I wouldn’t expect to see many new listings for the next month here in the Eastern Suburbs.

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12 week Trademe listing time for New Year listings has expired. Have another go, with a bit more marketing cost? Or perhaps switch agent and try again after Easter, maybe put a price on it? Who knows, but the REINZ numbers will tell us more in a couple of weeks.

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Agent sales period expiring. Vendors changing agents. Expect to see them relisted shortly after the Easter/Anzac holiday period.

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RE NZ total falling first week in month because 3m contracts not renewing and client is pulling listing off market.
This happened in first week of March also.
By the way, sales of Auckland property in Dec 07 to Feb 08 were 23% HIGHER than this last 3m period.
That was when China rescued NZ and Australia from what UK and EU got clobbered by - ie reverse in liquidity.
No such rescue this time as China wants its capital fo reserves at home to defend currency.
Buckle up

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Yeah, dip in March was much smaller..on 5th March total listing were down 84 from the week before, today we are down ~260 listings from a week ago.

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So many properties in Pakuranga, Howick and Buckland Beach area which have failed Auction and the asking or expectation is near CV wheras thouse houses which are selling to meet the market that is below 15% to 25% below Cv are getting sold out.

This Sellers / Agents will be lucky to get even 20% below CV if they hold on for Long.

Just saw one property in Pakuranga where the auction failed and now the asking is 929000 (CV of 970) but similar hproperties in same street have been going for early to mid 800s.

Few real estate agents have too many properties listed with them and many are for more than few months old - I guess they approach vendor with unrealistic appraisal in current market so are unable to sell (Earlier was fine, even if you give high appraisal, houses will sell). CHECK ANY RE AGENT WHO HAS 4 OR MORE HOUSES LISTED AND CONFIRM WHAT AM SAYING AS I DO NOT WANT TO NAME WHAT I HAVE OBSERVED.

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Yes, I've said before those areas seem way down .Pakuranga seems consistently 10-20% down

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I see vendors spending up large on renovations before putting on the market so they get their anticipated price that the RE probably told them they could sell it for if they did a bit of work on it. Keep a lookout for those orange FlexiBins for the small reno, and the full on skips for the big jobs, its a dead giveaway when you see the toilet sticking out and the old kitchen sink.Expect to see more people also doing makeovers rather than selling in this market.

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Hi Carlos67,

Agree - the vast majority of NZ house-owners (including investors) are only interested in selling for a profit.

A well-considered renovation/refurbishment in a quiet market can make a sizeable difference to selling price a bit later. Plus, you benefit from the improvements for as long as you live there. Thus, improvements can be money well spent - and fun in the process - if you can find a good builder!

If you have scope to get a car off the street, that can make a huge difference to selling price - especially if the property is near the CBD, where carparks are like gold........ I know a person who shifted their house further back on the section to make space for drive-on for two small cars - and then she refurbished the house. Fantastic outcome - more than doubled the value of the property. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you get a Building Consent and the Code Compliance Certificate.

In any case, term deposits are a waste of space at current interest rates. Why let someone else make money from your savings?

TTP
P.S. A caution about lifting the lids of those orange Flexi-Bins: you might find a doomsayer living inside and they're entitle to privacy. ;-)

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Most of these Do Ups were based on an increased equity via a cg increase on property. I know, Im in swimming pools, people have been more than happy to whack 100k on the mortgage to gain a bucket in their back yard.
Without the cg increase, most wont have the equity, or the balls, to risk pouring 100k into a renovation to risk getting maybe 120k out at the front end.
You understand that there are other options outside of term deposits and property dont you ? I made a very tidy profit on forex trading over the last 12 months, and business has been booming. All about doing your homework, appetite for risk, and not running with the pack.

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Everyone has forgotten about the looming capital gains tax.
A large number of private buyers are wanting an apartment or extra home for personal use and a very large number own businesses or farms.
The fear is that this odious tax idea, which failed to achieve anything elsewhere in the world, will cripple business and investment.
The fellow who headed the TWG ( let’s not use his name) is laughing all the way to the bank at $1000 a day.
And he calls others Rich Pricks.

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Some investors are certainly bailing out, one look at the auction schedules and you notice a fair number of adjacent units going up for auction at the same time (eg, 19A and 19B Laburnum road, new windsor, neither of which sold at yesterdays Barfoots auction).

Impossible to know whether they are bailing out because of the proposed CGT, getting out before the market falls over, or just getting out because they are just retiring and cashing out.

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