The residential property market is continuing its steady climb to recovery, with 655 more houses sold nationwide in December 2009 than in the same month of 2008.Sales remain far below the 2007 peak, with the lower end of the market the most active.The ris
The residential property market is continuing its steady climb to recovery, with 655 more houses sold nationwide in December 2009 than in the same month of 2008.
Sales remain far below the 2007 peak, with the lower end of the market the most active.
The rise in transactions last month to 4,957 homes was still 640 property sales behind the number achieved in December 2007 according to the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures.
The average median house price across New Zealand increased by 9.6% in the year to December 2009, up $5,000 from November’s average to a record for 2009 of $360,000.
But the volume of sales is not the only thing improving - the average sale turnaround time has reduced to only 33 days as at December 2009 from 45 days in December 2008, compared with 36 days in December 2007.
Signs of improvement in the residential property market are clear, but the recovery continues to happen slowly and steadily. Real Estate Institute of New Zealand president Peter McDonald sees the market as “optimistic” for 2010.
“House prices have definitely stabilised and appear to be slightly gaining, which is a positive sign,” said Mr McDonald. “While the median price for December 2009 was a record high for that time of the year, it’s a case of steady as it goes.”
The lower end of the market continues to be the strongest in terms of sale numbers, with 2,886 of the homes sold last month going for less than $400,000.
617 of the properties sold were in the $600,000 to $999,999 category, 1,289 between $400,000 and $599,999 and 165 above $1 million.
The houses sold in December had a total combined value of $2.15 billion, $918 million of those in Auckland.
Real estate agency Barfoot and Thompson said that the sales it wrote in December 2009 were of the highest value it had seen in two years, at an average of $552,933 which is 1.7% above its December 2008 average and only 3% down on December 2007.
“Activity was exceptional for a December, and we sold 648 properties, our highest number of sales in a December for two years, and were 40.6 percent higher than in December last year,” said Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson.
Mr Thompson added that he expected prices to remain static during the months immediately ahead.
“While interest rates are comparatively low, buyers are conscious that rates are likely to rise in 2010, and given that prices rose each month for the last three months of 2009, rising interest rates are not seen as a deterrent. Buyers are balancing that with a quiet confidence in the economy and their job prospects,” Mr Thompson said.
