$1 million sales lift average Auckland home sales price

An abnormally high number of sales above $1 million has seen the average sales price for property in the Auckland market reach $645,928 in March.

"This is our highest ever average price and exceeds last month’s average price by 6.9 percent, and the previous highest average price of $627,721 achieved in November last year by 2.9 percent," said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

"While we expected to see a major lift in the average price between February and March, as it is a trend evident in our sales statistics since 2010, the most critical factor in the price increase was undoubtedly the number of homes that sold for in excess of $1 million.

"186, or 13 percent of all our sales, were for more than $1 million, whereas the percentage last year was 8.5 percent of sales.

"This is the highest number of sales in excess of $1 million we have ever sold in a month, with the highest concentration of sales being in the eastern and central Auckland areas, and along the North Shore beach suburbs.

"A higher-than-normal number of sales at the top end of the market does have a significant impact on the average price, and the same influence was felt when our previous highest average price was established in November, when we sold 146 homes for more than $1 million.

"We experienced an exceptional month’s trading in March, and we sold a total of 1430 homes in the month, our highest number in a month for nearly 10 years.

"While there was a great deal of focus on top-end homes, market activity was also strong in the under $500,000 price category where we sold a total of 550 homes, making up 38.5 percent of total sales.

"New listings during March at 1476 were solid, but down 15.8 percent on those in February and down 4 percent on those for last March.

"The level of new listings combined with high March sales saw available listings at month end at 3721, down 6.7 percent on those at the end of February and down 22 percent on those last March.

"It is the second lowest number of listings at a month’s end for more than a decade, and is yet another sign of the acute shortage of property available for sale in Auckland."