It achieves sales on around half of the number of auctions
The property market continues to recover after the COVID-19 lockdown, with auction activity becoming stable again at Barfoot & Thompson.
Barfoot & Thompson revealed that its auction rooms are now generally handling at least 120 auctions weekly, achieving sales on around half of them. Its auction rooms handled 125 residential properties from July 13 to 19 compared to only 122 the previous week.
Meanwhile, the overall sales rate reached 49% last week compared to only 42% the previous week. Last week's overall sales rate was lower compared to 54% three weeks ago, but sales rates at individual auctions remained stable.
Read more: House prices continue to rise post lockdown
House prices also continue to rise after the lockdown, with nationwide house prices surpassing economists' predictions for how they would perform amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) revealed that the median house prices nationwide increased by 9% in June 2020 to $639,000 – up from $585,000 in June 2019 and $620,000 in May 2020.
“Earlier this year, there were a number of predictions that house prices would fall post-COVID. However, we are yet to see any evidence of that happening with every region in the country seeing uplift from the same time last year and 10 out of 16 regions seeing uplift from May,” said Bindi Norwell, the chief executive of REINZ.
“With wage subsidies and mortgage ‘holidays’ still firmly in place, and demand for good property exceeding supply, we wouldn't be so bold as to say there won't be an easing of pricing in the coming months when these support mechanisms come to an end.”
“But right now, Kiwis' love affair with property continues unabated – especially with the low-interest rates we currently have in the market,” Norwell concluded.
