More Auckland homes sell: prices hit new low for 2024, sales volumes pick up

New Barfoot & Thompson data out today. Photo / Fiona Goodall

Auckland homes are selling for lower prices but volumes picked up last month, new data out today shows.

Barfoot & Thompson’s sale prices hit a new low last month for this year, showing the market slumping further despite forecasts of a spring rebound.

September’s average sale price of $1,081,269 was 2024′s lowest from the agency.

Average prices were $1.082m in January, $1.11m in February, $1.22m in March, $1.21m in April, $1.18m in May, $1.23m in June, $1.12 in July and $1.10m in August.

The median house sale price was also at a new low of $934,500 for September, down from January’s $966,000, February’s $970,000, March’s $1.05m, April’s $1.00m, May’s $1.10m, June’s $1.02m, July’s $970,000 and August’s $952,000.

The agency sold 985 homes last month, below the 1061 in March. September was the second-busiest month for sales this year.

But while homes sold for less, more of them sold in September than for most of this year.

The agency sold 11 homes for more than $3m last month and 56 homes for more than $2m. Sales over $1m totalled 429, up on the 397 the agency sold in that price bracket in August.

Peter Thompson, agency managing director, said house sales had “a spring in their step” in September, with sales volumes up nearly 11%.

“During September we sold 986 properties, making it our second-busiest month of the year, and, in fact, the second-busiest month for sales across our network for nearly two and a half years.”

But he also acknowledged the average price fell 2.4% from August to September.

Buyers have wide choice, Thompson indicated.

“There is a wide variety of property styles on the market at the moment, across all price points, with a growing number of new-build apartments and townhouses becoming available, making it a very interesting market for buyers.

“During the month, 56% of all the properties we sold were under $1 million and nearly a quarter were under $750,000. And at the other end of the market, we sold 56 properties over $2 million and 12 sales were for over $3 million,” he said.

Last month, the agency said house sales in August were better than expected and it said a combination of spring optimism and lower interest rates could charge up the market.

Sales and listings during August had outperformed seasonal expectations, and prices were stable.

Its median sales price in August was $952,500. That was 3.1% lower than in August 2023. The average price was $1,107,837, down 1.6% on July but 2% higher than August last year.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.