Auckland houses for sale flood market, hit 11-year peak

Barfoot & Thompson says number of new listings has risen steeply lately. Photo / Ted Baghurst

The number of Auckland houses for sale with one agency has hit an 11-year peak to the point where 5382 properties are now on its books in the city’s flooded market.

Not since 2013 has the city had so many residential properties available, jumping from 1221 listings in January to the new high, according to Barfoot & Thompson.

Last year, the number of new listings a month averaged only 1325 - so they have nearly doubled lately, to 2255 for February this year.

“There are currently more homes for sale in Auckland than at any time in the past decade,” said managing director Peter Thompson.

More homes were for sale in this city than there were active buyers, Thompson also said.

The build-up started last August “and in the last six months has reached the point where buyers have rarely had such a depth of choice. At month end we had 5382 homes on our books, the highest number of homes listed for nearly 13 years since April 2011″, he said.

The February listings of 2255 properties new to the market was the highest since prices peaked in November 2021.

Sale numbers per week in February ranged from 156 to 280, nothing like they were back in February 2021 when more than 400 properties were sold in three out of the four weeks.

Average Auckland sale prices in January were $1.08 million and $1.1m in February.

Thompson said the number of properties for sale was not depressing prices.

The Reserve Bank last week kept the official cash rate on hold but the Herald has reported how major banks ASB and ANZ are cutting some home lending rates today.

ASB said the one-year lending rate has dropped 10 basis points from 7.39 per cent to 7.29 per cent, effective yesterday.

The two-year lending rate also dropped, from 6.89 per cent to 6.85 per cent. ASB already cut some of its home loan rates last week, just ahead of the OCR announcement.

The bank’s 18-month mortgage adjustment dropped 26 basis points to 6.89 per cent last Tuesday.

After announcing its decision last week, new forecasts suggest the Reserve Bank might be on track to cut sooner than it had previously indicated.

“Over the past year or so, the New Zealand economy has evolved broadly as anticipated by the committee,” Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr said in last week’s Monetary Policy Statement.

“Core inflation and most measures of inflation expectations have declined, and the risks to the inflation outlook have become more balanced.”

New Zealanders began the new year under more financial strain as mortgage and credit arrears climbed higher, according to credit company Centrix.

The number of homeowners behind on their mortgage repayments rose to more than 21,800 in January, up 16 per cent year-on-year, Centrix’s latest Credit Indicator report out today showed.

The percentage of mortgages in arrears climbed to 1.47 per cent in January, up from 1.40 per cent in December.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.