So how is the market?

There has been a notable ‘bounce in the step’ of the Manukau market with good properties commanding strong interest. Stories of multiple offers, competitive bidding & quick sales frequenting the real estate airwaves.

Sales volumes remain suppressed and we put this down to the subdued stock levels of properties. Whilst in September both the New Zealand & Auckland market saw volume increases from last year, the Manukau volumes remain at some of the lowest at 129 in September.

Manukau’s statistics

The Manukau median price has remained stable at $710,000 in September and average sale time sits at 30 days. Manukau is up by 1.5% last month compared to the month previous and has increased 7.5% this time 5 years ago.

Market highlights

Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 6.6% in September to a record high of $597,000, up from $560,000 in September 2018.

September was a strong month price wise, with record median prices recorded in four regions – Manawatu/Wanganui, Southland, Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay. New Zealand as a whole saw a record median price of $597,000. Overall, median prices rose in 13 out of 16 regions."

Auckland saw the first annual increase in median prices for the region in 11 months.

In summary

The pendulum of market forces is swinging favourably for the real estate market with low interest rates, abolished capital gains tax, housing shortage, and increased buyer confidence. There is also growing acceptance of recent changes to legislation with the Overseas Investment Act, Brightline Test change, Anti-money laundering & Residential Tenancies Act.

There are always markets within markets but all in all, a solid start to Spring, key indicators pointing towards a stable market with momentum building despite the lack of availability of quality listings restricting sales volumes. The year on year median sale price difference has risen to realistic levels.

Although the market in Auckland is traditionally quieter during this time, sales have still been ticking along.

The latest sales statistics from QV show that the Auckland values rose up to 4.2% at the end of this year, in the last 3 months alone. Nationwide property values increased 4.9% annually, and 1.5% over the past three months. This puts nationwide values 17.9% higher than the previous market peak reached in late 2007.Auckland values rose at almost twice the rate of the rest of New Zealand, up 9.8% (by $68,309) in the last year, and are being picked to shoot up even further this year.

Jonno Ingerson, director of CoreLogic, said the outlook for this year was for values to continue up. Jonno predicts that the sales turnover will remain healthy and steady, but the constraint of new listings will be the factor in rising values.   “Given strong migration, continuing low interest rates, a shortage of housing and good consumer confidence, values are likely to keep increasing in Auckland throughout this year...”

Given that during the last three months of 2014, Auckland values rose faster than they did during the 2003 to 2007 boom, the Reserve Bank says it is prepared to introduce further measures to slow down the market if necessary.

This would most likely include lending restraints as the interest rates are unlikely to rise until later on in the year.  

Manukau City values rose 9.5% on year and 3.3% since October '14 Waitakere City homes values rose 10.7% on year and 4.4% since October '14 North Shore City values rose 8.9% year on year and 3.3% since October '14 Papakura District values were up 10.6% and 5.6% since October '14

www.qv.co.nz