What Barfoot & Thompson revealed on July sales: median prices down, volumes up

The agency just released July sales data. Photo / Tania Whyte

Median sales prices recorded by Auckland's largest real estate agency fell in the last month but sale volumes rose.

Peter Thompson, Barfoot & Thompson managing director, released July sales figures this morning which showed the median price fell from $910,000 in June to $890,000 in July.

New listings numbers fell from June's 1582 to 1518 last month.

Sales volumes for unconditional commission-paid deals rose from 820 in June to 1095 in July.

Average prices rose from $953,417 in June to $979,189 last month but were still below March's $993,528, recorded mostly before the alert level 4 lockdown.

Of all the agency's sales last month, 87 per cent were above $500,000, 52 per cent over $1m and just 11 per cent were over $2m.

The agency listed 1518 properties for sale last month, down on June's 1582 new listings and well below March new listings of 1763.

The agency had 2873 properties for sale at the end of last month, below June's 4001 which was the highest number of any month this year.

Thompson said the market had shaken off economic and pre-election apprehensions.

Anecdotal information suggested that July trading was going to be strong, but the extent of activity will have caught forecasters by surprise, Thompson claimed.

"Normally as we approach a general election the market goes a little quiet as buyers take a 'wait and see' approach, but even this event is not holding back activity," he said.

Economist Cameron Bagerie said he did not expect a great rush of returning Kiwis to substantially boost the housing market. Around 500,000 Kiwis live in Australia and he does have concerns about Victoria but said people had high hopes for many of those to return but he doesn't believe that will happen.

The latest OneRoof Property Report released yesterday showed national house price growth had slowed from 9 per cent pre-lockdown to 0.5 per cent post lockdown.

On July 29, the Real Estate Institute said the number of properties sold nationally for $1m or more during the first half of 2020 rose by 11.7 per cent compared to H1 2019, with 5426 properties sold, up from 4858 last year.

Nationally, the number of $1m+ properties sold decreased slightly by -0.8 per cent if Auckland was excluded, REINZ said.

In Auckland numbers rose 16.9 per cent for the first-half when compared to the previous year - 3998 up from 3,419) - the largest annual percentage increase for the Auckland region since H1 2016.

In June, the Herald reported how house sales in Auckland and New Zealand are almost 50 per cent down on the same time last year, yet prices continue to reach near-record highs.

Meanwhile, just 3990 homes sold across the country in May - 47 per cent down on the same month in 2018, the Real Estate Institute's latest monthly sales data showed.