Auckland property officially off the boil

Median house prices in Auckland rose just 0.7pc in December, while sales volumes were down 11.5pc. Photo / Doug Sherring

Auckland house sale prices barely moved last month and sales volumes fell almost 12 per cent.

Real Estate Institute data just out showed the city's December's median sale prices only rose 0.7 per cent from November and sales volumes fell 11.5 per cent.

December is traditionally slow with people's interest moving away from the housing market because of the holidays and Christmas and when the figures were seasonally adjusted for that slower month, Auckland's December sales volumes rose 8.3 per cent compared to November, "indicating that while the headline number showed a sharp drop in sales compared to November, after taking into account seasonal effects, sales were in fact stronger than would have been expected", REINZ said.

Source: REINZ

Auckland's force on the national auction scene dropped, from 75 per cent of all New Zealand auctions a year ago to 51 per cent last month.

"Transactions in Auckland continue to represent the majority of national auction sales.
However, the dominance of Auckland has declined significantly over the past 12 months," REINZ said.

The Auckland region median rose from $765,000 in November to $770,000 last month. North Shore's median rose from $905,000 to $910,000, Auckland City's from $830,000 to $867,000 and Waitakere from $711,500 to $717,500.

Source: REINZ

Colleen Milne, REINZ chief executive, said new regulations were having an effect on Auckland.

"Adjustment to the new LVR rules continues to be evident in Auckland with sales volumes easing as a result. Numbers at open homes have fallen but this may reflect fewer speculators and a consequent increase in genuine buyers. There is also anecdotal evidence that buyers headed off on holiday a bit earlier this year. While sales volumes have fallen, prices remain firm across the region," Milne said of Auckland.

New Zealand's national median rose 3.3 per cent or $15,000 to reach $465,000.

Read the full REINZ release here: