A recent drop in Auckland housing prices may have worked in favor of real estate brokerage agencies and private sellers. Even as the selling prices and sales volumes dropped by a margin, the trading patterns remained quite the same. Property listings in the Auckland housing market were up by 19.7% still, on a month-on-month basis; and compared to the December average selling price of $1.278 million, the January figure was a decent $1.230 million, after a 3.8% drop.

January reflects greenery for the Auckland housing market

There has been a drop of 12.1% in the month-to-month sales volumes. December clocked in at 15.2% above January 2021. December’s 911 transactions were succeeded by only 801 transactions this January. The Level-4 lockdowns make it difficult to deduce exact figures in comparison to 2019-2020.

But, strong demand for quality housing in Auckland has led to rapid price surges of properties across the city, in recent years. Outdoing, Auckland housing market predictions, 2021 witnessed a whopping 1516 $3M homes exchanging hands in Auckland in the last year alone.

Auckland traded at a surprisingly high rate in January, with 1135 new listings making it to the market. This spelled a sales rate of 15.2% higher year on year, in January. Despite January’s negligible drop in the average selling price of homes in Auckland, the market fared better than December 2021’s national median of $905,000.

According to Auckland housing market news, a top brokerage firm finished January with a total of 3827 properties on the books, a 15-month record high. Plus, Auckland’s January median selling price of $1,025,000 also chased the national median, which was  $1.028 million in January- a 27.5% year-on-year, and up% month-on-month.

Auckland housing market: 5 years ago, and now

This is a far-removed possibility from the expectations one could have of the Auckland housing market predictions of 5 years ago. A $3M house in Auckland, half a decade back, was considered a luxury buy, and usually situated in sought-after suburbs.

However, the scenario has become drastically different now, in terms of asset value growth. For example, 5 years ago, a $3M sale equaled a 5-3 bedroom water-side property maxing over 900+ sq. meters, with at least two car parks, and in a suburb like Omaha. Despite nearby sights like vineyards and golf course recreation.

Today, such a property would fetch an even prettier penny in the Auckland market; something to the tune of nearly $6M now. The same can be said for properties in Remuera, Takapuna, Queenstown, and the likes.

Admitted, $3M homes today cannot match the scale or luxury of their counterparts from 5-years ago. Today, Queenstown ranks the highest price average in NZ- $1.15M. The definition of prestige homes in 2022’s Auckland, resembles houses with smaller spreads and lifestyle features.

The trade-off is the abundance of sizeable listings in fringe suburbs like Ponsonby, where even 3-bedroom, 1-bath homes (with off-street parking to boot) are selling for $2.96M. Plus, you can unexpectedly stumble across the odd heritage property here, with modernized ‘kauri’ features. Takapuna Beach is not far behind, either, with “environmentally focussed” residential projects coming up.

Ignoring tough lending conditions, LVR ratios, and rising interest rates, Auckland housing market predictions from experts suggest another 5% growth for Auckland across the calendar year 2022.