It’s been a bumpy month, hard to foresee what’s actually happening in New Zealand’s real estate market. With business only just getting back to pre-Christmas levels, it’s almost impossible to base any meaningful predictions where prices are heading in 2017 using the statistics from the first four weeks of the year.
A statistic you can lean on, however, is that net migration is at an all time high of 70,000 per annum, which, given the current rate of homes being constructed in Auckland, leaves our city short 50 houses per week, every week. And to compound the problem, Auckland’s infrastructure is not keeping up with the demand either meaning an ever increasing percentage of the city’s workforce is being forced to take longer and longer commutes.
Add all these factors together, and city fringe suburbs, such as Ponsonby, look very attractive to newcomers and locals, alike fuelling a continued demand for properties in the area to buy and to rent.
With just 19 properties falling under the hammer in January, sales numbers were down 42% month on month and 37% year on year. This we attribute to a record December, when a significant number of vendors decided to act before the holiday break. Early indicators are that January was an anomaly, and we’ll be back on track next month.
Month on month the median sale price dropped 35% from December to January, but the good news is that it is up 13% on this time last year. Further analysis reveals that there is strength and consistency in the $1-1.5m price range, with a significant drop off at either end of the scale from those December highs.
The consistency Ray White Ponsonby achieves in the average days it takes to sell its properties proves that, even in January when the statistics are seasonally skewed, vendors can have a degree of certainty about when their property will sell, with auctions easily leading the way as the fastest method of sale.
Although there has been virtually no change in these statistics this month, they continue to overwhelmingly favour auctions as the quickest and most popular way to sell a property. And with the introduction of our new award-winning auctioneer, Gavin Croft, that trend is set to continue well into the 2017.
Although there were a few bumps in the road pre- and post-Christmas statistics, things look to have settled back down into a pattern that clearly have auctions out in front as the preferred method of sale for our vendors – and for good reason, looking at our auction success rates and the number of days taken to sell a property.
This map gives you an overview of total sales and median price across the Greater Ponsonby area. Hover over the yellow dots for the statistics on each suburb. To view other suburbs we monitor (such as Titirangi), zoom out or drag the map.
The Rental Market
Demand is currently extremely high for all types of rental properties, and it’s certainly a good time to be a landlord with Ray White Ponsonby, with our letting managers working tirelessly to achieve the best possible rates for our landlords. There is also a huge demand for short stay tenancies. In response, we have taken on a short term leasing manager to deal specifically with those needs.
