Buyers have choices, but Papatoetoe is the place to sell.
Auckland recorded another big jump in median price to reach a new record of $890,000 in March, along with a seasonally adjusted 3% increase in sales volumes on February.
However, the market appears more balanced, offering opportunities for buyers as well as sellers, as inventory levels have risen to the highest point in five years. The time it takes to sell is also coming back to historic norms. These factors provide more choice for buyers.
Westpac acting chief economist, Michael Gordon, said the data showed little movement in the housing market in March. Sales rose marginally for a second straight month, but they remain more than 20% below last year’s peak level, while house prices remained close to flat for the month.
In particular, prices in Auckland have been effectively flat — i.e. no increase or decrease — since last August. Previous hot spots such as Hamilton and Tauranga have also slowed. However, prices are still rising at a moderate pace in many of the smaller regions.
The slowdown in the housing market is likely to be due to the introduction of the investor-focused LVRs last year and, more significantly, rising mortgage rates which have ended the downward trend in borrowing costs.