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While Barfoot & Thompson experienced its slowest month of trading in a December for five years, and the median price for the month was 16% below peak, prices on a month-by-month basis have remained static for four months.
“Contrary to the expectations of economists and commentators, the median price paid for property in December has barely moved from where it was in September,” Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson says.
“In December, the median price paid was $1,067,500, the second highest median price in the past four months,” he says.
“In the first eight months of the year, the median price declined gradually, but then stopped falling and has remained static since.
“A similar pattern can be seen in the average sales price, which at $1,155,131 for December, was the highest average price in three months.”
Thompson says while all the drivers putting pressure on prices such as rising interest rates and inflation, concerns over future economic activity and more properties for sale than there have been for a decade remain, vendors have become cautious about accepting what they consider to be too low an offer.
“The effect of this reluctance was particularly felt in the under $750,000 price category in December, and we sold only 90 homes in this price segment. At the same time, we sold 37 homes for more than $2 million, 12 of them for more than $3 million.
“In Northland buyer interest continued to be shown in beef breeding and finishing units with larger units being sought for forestry, which remains a big player in bare land sales.”
