Selling prices and sales volumes for Auckland residential properties dropped last month, but the numbers were in line with normal trading patterns, a leading real estate company says.
Meanwhile, property listings were up 19.7 percent month-on-month.
In a January data statement released on Thursday, Auckland and Northland-based real estate company Barfoot and Thompson said the average selling price in Auckland was $1.230 million.
Compared to December ($1.278 million), the average selling price dropped 3.8 percent.
Sales volumes dropped 12.1 percent month-on-month, from 911 transactions in December, to 801 transactions in January. Compared to January 2021, sales volumes were down by a quarter.
Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson, said while prices had "eased marginally" in January compared to December, this was common.
"The average sales price for the month (at $1,230,581), while down 3.8 percent on that for December, was 15.2 percent higher than at the same time last year (2021)," Thompson said.
As COVID-19 restrictions over 2020 and 2021 restricted trading (e.g. there were no 'in person' open homes during alert level 4), direct comparisons on sales volumes over the last two years (2020 and 2021) could not be made.
Following the 2020 lockdown, Thompson said trading in January 2021 was "abnormally high".
"This [2022] January’s sales number is significantly higher than those for January for the four years preceding 2021.
"New listings for the month at 1135 were strong, and we ended the month with 3827 properties on our books, giving buyers a level of choice not seen for 15 months," Thompson added.
On a national basis, the average property value reached $1.028 million in January, up 27.5 percent year-on-year (up 2.1 percent month-on-month), according to January CoreLogic data.
Amid tougher lending conditions, rising interest rates and loan-to-value ratio restrictions, industry commentators forecast a slowdown in house price growth over the coming year. CoreLogic property economist Kelvin Davidson expects national property values to grow "up to 5 percent" in 2022.
The latest ANZ Property Focus report shows the bank is forecasting "a 7 percent fall in the level of house prices in the year to December 2022."
