Low Auckland house prices attract strong sales activity

The Auckland housing market is experiencing strong sales activity without it affecting price stability. In February, sales numbers at 785 were excellent, and we sold the highest number of homes in a February for five years. 

February’s high activity follows on from that in January, and in the first two months of the year we have sold 1,609 homes, 16 percent more than at the same time last year.

The only year we have sold more homes in the first two months of a calendar year in the last decade was 2021.

The attraction that is drawing buyers is current price levels, with the median sales price in February at $904,000, down 9.6 percent on that for January, and the average price at $1,013,976, down 13.3 percent.

These are among the lowest monthly median and average sales prices seen in Auckland since prices peaked in 2022.

The combination of high sales and low prices is part of the ‘structural change’ the Reserve Bank commented on when announcing the OCR would remain at 2.25 percent in late February. 

Effectively, housing supply is starting to meet housing demand, and the prices are drawing in buyers who once felt priced out of the market. 

We listed 2,252 new properties in February, a combination of new builds and existing homes, and at month end had 6,159 properties on our books, the highest number of listings we have had at this time of the year for 15 years.

While the combination of good choice, stable prices and high sales numbers is drawing strong buyer interest, for the first time in many years this is not putting pressure on prices. 

Of our sales in February 31 percent were in the under $750,000 price segment, the category most attractive to first time buyers. 

Sales in the $2 million plus market represented 4 percent of total sales. This sector is normally quiet at this time of the year because of the holiday season. 

Sales of property in the rural and leisure sectors of Northland and greater Auckland for February were close to $37 million, bringing sales for the first two months of the year to $100 million, 15.5 percent higher than for the same two months last year.