It means that the upward pricing trend that started in October of last year has stalled, according to agents Barfoot & Thompson.
It latest data shows that the average sales price in May was $644,737, up less than $2,000 on the figure for April and down less than $1,500 on March’s all time record average price.
‘While realistically priced properties still continue to sell almost as soon as they come on the market, there is resistance to going above current values. Buyers can see value in the prices at which properties are currently changing hands, but they are not adopting a buy at any price attitude,’ said Peter Thompson, the firm’s managing director.
‘Rather than experiencing runaway prices, the Auckland property market has come out of the other side of a period of price rebalancing caused by five years of modest price growth. While some properties sell well above their CVs, they are the exception and there are often valid reasons for the price differential,’ he explained.
The data also shows that May’s average price is 10.7% ahead of the average price in May last year. The median sales price in May of $570,000 confirms the same trend shown in the average sales price. In May the median price was $4,000 above that for April and $10,000 below that for March.
Thompson said that what did not change in May was the number of properties being sold, and the speed at which they were sold. In May the firm sold 1,284 properties, 20.9% more than in April and 10.2% more than in May last year.
New listings at 1,315 were our lowest for four months, and down 14.2% on those for April. At the end of May the firm had 3,034 properties on its books, the lowest number in more than a decade. At current sales levels that represents only eight to nine weeks of stock.
‘Auckland remains a market where there are too many people chasing too few properties, and until there is an increase in the number of properties buyers will remain frustrated at the limited choice available,’ added Thompson.
During May 144 properties sold for in excess of $1 million. A further 519 properties sold for less than $500,000.
