ARTICLE SUPPLIED BY REINZ
The median house price in Auckland reached a new record high of $1,200,000 in August, increasing 26.4% year-on-year. Five of the seven districts in Auckland including Manukau reached record median prices in August.
Jen Baird, Chief Executive at REINZ says: “House prices have once again risen across the country, with every region seeing a year-on-year increase from August 2020. This latest lockdown has not dampened demand for, or confidence in, the housing market as we saw in early 2020. We have heard from across the industry that prices achieved on sales completed in the early part of this lockdown continue to illustrate an ongoing excess of demand over supply; prices are still rising. Auckland has remained relatively resilient to lockdown so far and people have been adapting to online real estate functions which has seen online auctions, virtual inspections and buyer enquiry activity continue.
However, Jen continues: “New listings saw an 18.8% decrease annually, leading to an ongoing low level of stock in Auckland (down 23.6% year-on year), which continues to cause some people to experience the fear of not finding anything. People are holding back from listing their property until they have secured another, adding to the shortage of stock. Some are waiting for alert levels to ease before they list their property.”
Despite this, the coming months will no doubt see an easing of alert levels and the usual spring uplift, market activity is expected to increase.