Our new normal

January 2017

Our new normal

Just as I predicted in my blog in September Auckland has become a buyers’ market. I predicted this would last for three to six months. Well, it’s still a buyers’ market.

After a shortage of housing stock in recent years, there are now more houses for sale. But there are now fewer sales made monthly in Auckland. Prices were too high and now they’re coming off the boil as the market finds its own level. Auckland is now having a property breather. This is the current reality. Get used to it.

Here are the current residential property trends across Auckland:

• Fewer Chinese buyers.
• Fewer auctions.
• Numbers of properties sold at auctions have dropped from 90% to 20-25%.
• Properties are sitting on the market for longer and taking double the amount of time to sell.
• Buyers have withdrawn at the lower end of the market. They’re sitting on the fence waiting for the prices to drop.
• The majority of vendors are now starting with a fixed price. The public love it. They know where they stand.
• Numbers at open homes have significantly dropped off.

We have never had so many investment properties available for first-home buyers.

If the Chinese buyers don’t return to the market we’ll be in for an interesting 12 months – and so will the Auckland economy.

Prices are normalising only at the upper end of the market (over $1 million). There are more sales of expensive homes being made.

Fewer houses are selling at the lower end in the $500,000-$900,000 range.

There are a lot of wealthy people around with excess money to put into investment properties. The middle-class are being hammered and the working class are also being stung. If the middle-class are hurting, the Government needs to beware – they’re the swing voters.