Mid-winter hits house prices: Auckland down 2.4%, NZ down 1.7%

Mid-winter is hitting the housing market with national and Auckland prices down, according to the latest Real Estate Institute data for July.

Auckland house prices hit a six-month low and fell by 2.4 per cent from June. National house prices dropped 1.7 per cent since June.

Bindi Norwell, REINZ chief executive, said Auckland's $830,000 last month was "the lowest median price we've seen in the City of Sails in six months which is a result of drops in the proportion of properties sold between $500,000 and $700,000."

Auckland prices fell from $850,000 in June to $830,000 last month. Nationally, house prices dropped from June's median $585,000 to $575,000 in July.

Areas with the biggest rises were Otago up 21.7 per cent and Southland up 20 per cent.

Biggest falls were recorded on the West Coast down 24.4 per cent, Marlborough down 5.9 per cent and Taranaki down 4 per cent.

National median house prices rose annually 4.5 per cent in July to $575,000, up from $550,000 last July.

"Median price increases for New Zealand excluding Auckland were even stronger, increasing by 6.1 per cent to $485,000, up from $457,000 in July last year. Median house prices in Auckland remained flat at $830,000 – the same price as July last year," REINZ said.

Days to sell nationally increased annually from 37 to 40 days in July but fell between June at 41 days to July to 37 days.

Auctions were used in 8.7 per cent of all sales nationally and in July 535 properties sold by that method, REINZ said.

"The total number of properties available for sale nationally increased by 2.6 per cent from 21,288 to 21,843, an increase of 555 properties compared to 12 months ago, REINZ said.

OneRoof-Valocity issued new data yesterday showing Auckland's housing market was no longer flatlining but prices were falling, down 3.7 per cent on July last year.

House prices have now fallen every month this year when compared with the same month in 2018, and had risen only once in the past 17 months, according to Valocity director of valuation James Wilson.

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Auckland's biggest agency, Barfoot & Thompson, reported its July activity on August 2.

"The Auckland residential property market underwent a modest but definite shift in July with property sales prices falling and sales numbers rising. The modest fall in both average and median prices in the month was enough to unlock sales numbers, with July sales being their highest in the month of July for three years," a statement said.

Agents working at that business sold 1154 properties in July, ahead of 1012 in June but average prices dropped from June's $939,945 to July's $919,648. Median prices also dropped from June's $845,000 to $800,500, Barfoot & Thompson reported.