New data has proven that despite the winter blues and post-COVID predictions, the residential market has come back swinging, with a sales success rate that hasn’t been seen in the month of July in over five years.
Here’s what you need to know:
July proves to be a strong month for the residential housing market
According to data from Auckland’s largest Real Estate agency, July buckled the trend of post-COVID and winter blues and proved to be a successful month for the residential housing market.
The real estate agency recorded its best July sales volumes in five years, selling 1095 residential properties in July, up 24.6% on July last year and the highest number of sales in the month of July since 2015. Barfoot’s average selling price also rose for the second month in a row to $979,189 but remained below the March peak of $993,528.
Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson praised the commitment from buyers, crediting them for taking the opportunities presented to them from low interest rates and a flush market, “In July, buyers put aside any apprehensions they may have had about future market values, and committed,” Thomson also stated that these results have made him cautiously optimistic about the future of the market, “Normally as we approach a general election the market goes a little quiet, as buyers take a wait-and-see approach, but even this is not holding back activity.”
New listings were also robust, with the agency adding 1518 new properties for sale in July, up 31.5% on July last year and also the highest number of new listings in the month of July since 2015. This was also echoed by data from leading property website Realestate.co.nz received 8808 new national residential listings in July, which was up 20.7% on July last year, and was the highest number of new listings for the month of July since the tail end of the last property boom in 2016.
This current of properties onto the market was particularly strong in Auckland where 3425 properties were newly listed for sale on the website in July, up 39.7% on July last year, and the highest number for the month of July since 2015.
Thomson stated that this healthy activity is usually reserved for summer which proves the market is resilient even in these unpredictable times, “This is a level of sales normally only seen at the height of the summer sales season and is only one property less than we sold in March.”
Green Party aims to clear the social housing list within five years
The Green Party has launched a major housing policy, which would see the state housing provider borrowing more, stating that it would extend Kāinga Ora’s borrowing limit from $7.1 billion to $12 billion over the next five years to allow it to scale up the Crown build programme to 5000 new homes a year.
“Together with policies to support affordable rentals and papakāinga, within the next five years everyone who needs a home will be able to get one,” the party announced in a statement, and made a point to make clear that the borrowing would be accounted for on Kāinga Ora’s balance sheet, not as core Crown debt.
The National Party slammed the policy as “wishful thinking” and said it would lead to more regulations and red tape. With just over a month until the election, many will be watching to see what the major parties will announce in regards to the housing market, and in turn how those announcements will affect the market and its future.
-by Ravi Mehta, from Professional Financial Solutions