KEY POINTS:
Auckland property prices fell in June, but there was a slight lift in the number of sales, says real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson.
The average sale price for June was $525,316, down 1.7 per cent from May. There were 556 transactions - half of the 1,000 sales recorded in June last year, but an increase on the 453 and 515 sales recorded in April and May respectively.
Managing Director Peter Thompson said the result was "in line with expectations".
"June is always one of the slowest months in real estate so it's good to see the overall volume of sales has increased over the past two months."
"There is a clear pattern emerging where vendors are hesitating to list their properties for sale unless they have to. We recorded 1,214 new listings in June, which is the lowest figure this year to date. Our stock on hand position at the close of the month reflects this with 7,122 listings on our books, down from a 2008 high of 7,483 in April."
An email newsletter sent out by one Barfoot agent on Auckland's North Shore confirms the grim winter sentiment in the local market.
"We are finding open homes are very slow of late indicating that either the time of year (winter traditionally slow), the coming elections or the economy is putting many would-be buyers off," it says.
"Some will still be waiting to see how much further prices will fall. The result of this is that many salespeople are not earning a living and 700 have left real estate in Auckland over the last few months. You can bet there are more to follow."
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures show the number of sales staff employed in Auckland fell from 7824 in December last year to 7150 at the beginning of June.
Barfoot Managing director Thompson said there were still some sellers not ready to lower their prices.
"Some vendors are still reluctant to meet the market in terms of price expectations but that's probably just an issue of time. Vendors who need to sell within a reasonable timeframe need to be realistic about what the market will bear at this time."
- NZ HERALD
