“Demand and competition for homes has never been higher”
House prices and the number of houses sold in Auckland “stubbornly” soared in June 2021 despite the government’s efforts to make home-buying less attractive to investors, according to Barfoot & Thompson’s latest data.
Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson explained that sales numbers usually start to edge lower in June. However, the real estate company sold 1,243 homes in June 2021 – up 3.8% on those for the previous month. The average and median prices paid were also higher than those for May 2021.
“Even though our new listings for the month at 1,485 were solid, at month-end, our total listings at 2,864 were the lowest at a month-end for five years,” Thompson said.
Demand and competition for homes has never been higher, and the number of homes for sale with Barfoot & Thompson at the end of the month was down by a quarter on the number available at the same time last year, according to Thompson.
“The average price paid was $1,143,328, up 2.6% on that for May, and the median price at $1,109,000 was up 3.4%,” Thompson added. “The rate at which prices are increasing did ease slightly in June, but the rate remains stubbornly high.
“Our June-on-June median price increase now stands at 21.9%. The Real Estate Institute’s Price Index for May-to-May for Auckland was an increase of 26.3%.”
Read more: Barfoot data reveals impact of housing reforms on prices and sales numbers
Meanwhile, demand for housing, low levels of supply, and record-low mortgage interest rates continue to “prove a stronger counterbalance to the new housing reforms looking to pull back the rate of price increases,” according to Barfoot & Thompson.
“Demand for high-end housing continues unabated, and, during the month, we sold 120 homes for more than $2 million. The only month last year when we sold more $2 million homes than this was in December,” Thompson said.
“Throughout last year, our monthly average for the number of homes that sold for more than $2 million was 61.”
In June, Barfoot & Thompson sold 170 homes for less than $750,000, which represented 13.8% of its total sales for the month.
“What properties we had to sell in the rural and lifestyle markets attracted strong buyer interest, and further sales are being held back by a lack of listings,” Thompson said.
“There are more buyers than vendors in the rural and lifestyle markets currently,” he continued. “Of particular interest is bare land that is zoned for residential, or has future potential for rezoning.”
