New data from Core Logic reveal that Auckland residential listings have remained varied across the year, with clear impacts on values, but summer volumes are beginning to tighten things up as auction numbers remain steady – and possibly increasing toward summer.

Here’s what you need to know: Auckland residential listings remain varied – but are beginning to tighten

According to a recent CoreLogic Suburb Scorecard, in the past year there has been a large variation of Auckland residential listing rates across suburbs, with Kumeu and Long Bay having had the highest shares, and Wiri and Otara having the lowest.

Auckland has had a plateaued market for the past year, with sales volumes and average values drifting downward, cause of this have been attributed to affordability, buyer caution and high levels of listings. Evidence of the effect of high levels of listings can be seen in Kumeu and Long Bay, which had more than one in every five of their housing stocks listed for sale over the past year.

This saturation of choice for buyers would have been one factor behind falling property values in those areas, with median values drops of 6.7% in Long Bay and 3.9% in Kumeu. At the other end of the spectrum, where listing rates are below 4%, the opposite effect is happening. In Wiri (2.2%) and Otara (2.9%) the apparent reluctance of vendors to put their properties up for sale in these suburbs seems to have supported values – especially in Otara, where the median has risen by 5.3% over the past year.

But listings in Auckland have generally started to tighten in recent months, with sales volumes picking up and slowly beginning to outpace new properties coming onto the market – and this has helped values to flatten out in the past 2-3 months.

Coming into summer along with potential Reserve Bank announcements on the horizon, this trend could continue, which could benefit those looking to sell. Auckland auction numbers remain string with holiday boosts Barfoot & Thompson noticed a massive jump in activity in their auction rooms after the labour weekend, with the real estate agency processing 147 auction properties compared to 107 the previous week (+37%).

Listings jumped from 1204 in September to 1605 last month, that set the scene for a more active market in the run to the year’s end. Sales rates continues to sit strongly at around 50%, with the biggest auction of the week being obtained in Manukau where three dozen properties from south and east Auckland suburbs were offered and exactly half were sold. Central Auckland was not far behind, with an overall sales rate of 53%, followed by the North Shore with a 43% sales rate.

October overall as a strong indication that the market could be heading toward a strong rebound in summer, and many will be watching the market closely in the coming month before year-end.

-Ravi Mehta, from Professional Finance Solutions