Auckland property sales, prices drop in Jan

Barfoot and Thompson sold 859 Auckland properties in January compared to November's frenetic 1105 sales and December's busy 1050 sales. Photo / Janna Dixon

Auckland's average house sale price dipped slightly last month as the summer holidays and exceptionally low listing numbers depressed activity.

Barfoot & Thompson data out this morning showed January's average sale price dipped from December's $758,891 to $757,319.

Volumes were low last month.

But Peter Thompson, Barfoot managing director, said that slight drop was expected.

"Auckland property in January held on to the price gains made in December, with the average selling price in January reaching $757,319, only $1572 or 0.2 per cent down on December's all-time high average price

"A drop in prices between December and January is normal as the market gradually builds new momentum after the holiday break, but this year properties held their values," he said.

Barfoot only sold 859 places in January compared to November's frenetic 1105 sales and December's busy 1050 sales.

The average number of monthly sales throughout all of 2014 was 993.

Last year's price high was in December when the average was $758,891, after starting at only $647,207 last January.

In January this year, there were only 179 properties sold for more than $1 million, compared to November when 225 places were sold in that bracket and in December, 223 properties.

The last time prices dropped was from September's average $738,876 to October when the average fell to $736,238.

Sales volume at 859 homes in January was in line with the number of sales made in the month of January over the two previous years, Thompson said.

"Based on January's combination of solid sales numbers with continuing high prices, it suggests market values are likely to continue to hold firm or edge up modestly during the first half of this year.

"New listings at 1199 for the month were slightly down on those in January last year (a decline of 2.4 per cent on 2014), but were sufficient to provide some choice for buyers.

"At month end we had 2899 properties for sale on our books, a small but welcome improvement over the 2500 properties for sale at the end of December. It was, however, 14 per cent lower than listings at the end of January 2014.

"A quarter of all the homes sold in January were in the under $500,000 price category.

"The number of homes sold in the $1 million plus category continued to increase with 179 homes, or 21 per cent of all homes sold, were in this category. In December, the percentage was 17.2 per cent and in January 2014 it was 10.7 per cent," Thompson said.

"The price segment where property is under the greatest buyer pressure is in the $500,000 to $1 million category. This is where the majority of buyers are looking, and there is a critical shortage of potential properties available," he said.