Latest figures show the Auckland housing market continued to stabilise in June, leading to bullish noises from within the industry and suggestions naysayers may be missing the mark.
Real estate company Barfoot & Thompson, which says it sells around one in three Auckland residential homes, today said the "golden autumn" the Auckland housing market had been enjoying since March continued in June.
The company sold 861 properties at an average price of $521,791 last month, an increase in sales volume of 5.8 percent over May, and a 54.9 percent increase in sales on the corresponding month last year.
Prices in June were down 2.3 percent on those in May, an expected decline as it was traditional for prices to edge lower as winter weather approached, and less than 1 percent down on those in June last year, Barfoot & Thompson said.
"The Auckland housing market has made a remarkable recovery from the challenges experienced as a result of the past 18 months of economic downturn," Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said.
"No one was forecasting the speed, strength and solidity of the recovery in house sales activity, or the prices that are being achieved.
"It's hard to dismiss the robust sales of recent months as a temporary reprieve in the ongoing decline of housing values."
For the past six months the company had sold on average 747 properties a month, which was on average a third more than the average of 561 for the same six months last year.
For the past six months the average sale price was $510,896, close to last year's 12 month average price of $513,597.
"The strength of the Auckland housing market can be added to the list of `green shoots' indicating that the economy in general and people's confidence is starting to stabilise," Mr Thompson said.
His confidence contrasts with a more restrained outlook by Westpac economists Brendan O'Donovan and Dominick Stephens who a month ago predicted low sales volumes and gentle price declines in the second half of 2009.
They forecast house prices to fall 5 percent during the next 18 months, with variations from that mostly determined by interest rates.
Mr Thompson said the biggest challenge facing Barfoot & Thompson was obtaining new listings, with its total listings falling to 5557 at the end of June, the lowest level for the past 20 months.
During June the company let 735 properties, the highest number ever in June, at an average rent of $388 week.
The June rental average was close to the $387 average of the past six months, which was in line with the average for 2008.