Auckland house buyers shrug off bad economic news

Auckland home buyers pushed aside rising concerns about the economy in March, with the median house price for the month hitting $1,030,000, the highest median price in 24 months, and an increase of 13.9 percent on last month’s median price.

Prices and sale numbers were exceptional in March. March is invariably one of the best sales months of the year, but given the recent string of challenging economic news, this result was way above expectations.

Sales numbers for the month at 1,262 were up 60.8 percent on those for February and our highest for any month for five years.

The increased median sales price was mirrored by the average sales price, which at $1,176,572 was up 16 percent on where it was last month and 2.8 percent higher than at the same time last year.

Sales momentum in the Auckland market grew quietly in the first two months of the year and then broke out in March with buyers seeing through the potential short-term economic shocks hitting the economy and moving forward with their housing plans. 

While March’s sales are not signalling an end to the Auckland property market’s two-year static performance, it underlines that even in challenging economic times there is confidence in the medium-term future of the housing market. 

New listings for the month at 2,094 were in line with those for the same month last year, and we had 6,307 properties on our books at month’s end – also in line with the same number for March last year.

A feature of March’s sales was the strong representation of sales in the $2 million plus market, and for the first time in four years we sold more than 100 homes in a month in this price segment. 

Sales in the $3 million price segment were consistent with those in March last year.

While the share of sales under $750,000 declined in March, the number of sales in this segment remained steady at 241, in line with February.

Sales of property in the rural and lifestyle markets in Northland and Greater Auckland were also strong in March, but were more in line with market expectations, with sales reaching nearly $63 million, in line with the level of sales in March last year.