Auckland median house sale price plunges $180,000 in 10 months: Barfoot & Thompson

Barfoot & Thompson data for September has been issued. Photo / supplied

The price of homes sold by Auckland's largest real estate agency dropped by $47,000 from August to September but by $180,000 since last November.

Barfoot & Thompson's data out today showed the city's median residential sale price fell from $1.1m in August to $1.06m last month.

"That was the lowest it has been in any month for 16 months," said managing director Peter Thompson.

The peak was last November when the agency's median sale price hit an all-time of $1.24m.

So sale prices dropped $180,000 in the last 10 months.

Interest rate rises are taking their toll as volumes remain depressed at just 614 sales in September, down on this year's March peak of 1180.

But that was still well below January to August last year when the agency sold more than 1000 residential properties every month.

Thompson said Auckland property sales were adjusting to the current economic conditions. People were now buying cheaper places.

"Buyers in September focus their attention on properties that are selling for under $1m," he said. Last month, 46 per cent of sales were sub-$1m.

"For most months this year, sales in the under $1m price category have ranged between the low 30s and 40 per cent of total sales," Thompson said.

Thompson said prices were edging lower gradually, not falling sharply.

New listings of 1301 in September were solid and 2.5 per cent higher than the agency had averaged during the last three months.

The agency now has 4567 properties for sale, 1.5 per cent down on August but two-thirds higher than the number of for-sale properties last year.

The average price increased 2.9 per cent to $1.13m in September, he said.

Today, CoreLogic said New Zealand house values suffered one of the sharpest drops in the last three months, and that was predicted to continue, with interest rates forecast to rise again today.

Nick Goodall, CoreLogic NZ's head of research, said the quarterly fall of 4.1 per cent from July to the end of September was one of the worst for national value falls since the Global Financial Crisis.

He added: "It's probably too early to suggest the housing market has moved through the worst of the downturn."

That, he said, was due to the expected OCR jump.

The Herald reported that the Reserve Bank is widely expected to deliver another 50 basis point hike to the Official Cash Rate at 2pm today as it moves to try to head off inflation in the economy.

That would be the fifth 50 basis point hike in a row - an unprecedented run - and take the OCR from 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

But with the global outlook darkening in the past few weeks, there are signs the central bank will have to hike further than its previously projected peak of 4 per cent.

Bank economists now forecast the OCR to peak next year at between 4.25 and 4.75 per cent.