Auckland house sales, prices fell in December: Barfoot

Monday 12th January 2009

Auckland property prices fell last month and the average price dropped from the same month of 2007, according to Barfoot & Thompson, the city's biggest real estate firm.

The average house price fell about 9% to $509,513 in December from $559,803 a year earlier. Sales fell 6.9% to 461 in the latest month, according to managing director Peter Thompson.

Sales were higher in Barfoot's final week of 2008, ending December 19, at 227 than the weekly average for the year, at 171, according to the firm's numbers. The average sale price rose 1.7% from November. Prices for all of 2008 fell 4.7% from the previous year, which Thompson said was a good result in a turbulent year.

The central bank has slashed the official cash rate by 325 basis points to 5% since July, when it began the steepest easing cycle since introducing the OCR in 1999. Governor Alan Bollard is expected to drive rates lower still on January 29 at his next review, amid signs that last year's recession could spill over into 2009.

"The outlook for housing is still challenging," said Shamubeel Eaqub, economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere. "While falling prices and mortgage rates should be positive, still over-valued pricing, tighter lending criteria and net emigration means there are imposing negatives as well."

In Barfoot's property management division, the number of homes let rose to 579 in December from 435 in the same month of 2007.

By Jonathan Underhill

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