Auckland house prices up but sales numbers down in Nov

In November the Auckland housing market showed it is not yet ready to give up on price increases, with the average sales price increasing over that for October by 4.2 percent to $876,075 and the median price increasing by 1.9 percent to $795,000. "You have to go back 20 months to March 2014 to find a bigger monthly increase in the average price," said Barfoot & Thompson Director Kiri Barfoot. "For the past 7 months, monthly increases have been modest, but last month buyers were as committed as ever to meeting vendor expectations. "While prices have ignored Government and Reserve Bank measures designed to cool prices, there has been a measurable decrease in market activity. "In October market activity slowed, and that trend continued into November. "The number of sales in November at 986 was down 7.7 percent on that for October, and our lowest in a month since February. "New listings for the month at 1,683 were also down, being 7.5 percent lower than October’s, and the lowest number in the past 7 months. "At the end of the month we had 3,252 properties on our books, which was in line with those at the end of October, and represented the highest level of choice since March this year. "It remains to be seen if prices continue to ignore the tighter regulations, or whether November’s prices are the last remnants of momentum that built in the lead up to the introduction of the tighter measures. "The price segment which experienced the largest decline in sales numbers in November compared to October was the $500,000 to $750,000 category. In November 286 homes were sold in this price category compared to 353 in October. It is a price category popular with investors with portfolios of less than three properties. "The number of sales in November between $750,000 and $1 million, and those over $1 million were similar in number to those sold in October, as was the number of homes sold for under $500,000."