South Auckland property market surges

The South Auckland property market is surging ahead as the price of property – coupled with changing lifestyle preferences and increased economic activity in the region – begins to play a major role in people’s buying decisions.

Saturday, December 16th 2006, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

Ray White CEO Carey Smith said the company’s 40% increase in activity in South Auckland during November (compared to the same month last year) is because the region continues to show the best value for purchasers, together with a choice of price brackets according to a wide variety of sectors.

“There is also increased commercial activity in South Auckland. Many people previously only worked in South Auckland, but they are now also choosing the region as their place to live and play. Sale prices continue to increase and our 40% surge in activity may also be due to built up demand in the residential and investment markets,” Smith said.

The growing demand in South Auckland comes on the back of record results for the Ray White Group throughout New Zealand in November – up by 29% on the previous November and 15% ahead of the previous best result, which was recorded in March 2005.

Smith said the Auckland market responded very well in November because of the slower sales numbers in September and October.

“There was a built up demand, and with there being no change in interest rates, the buying market appeared to take advantage and this caused a quicker than normal turnover of property – we basically had a period when all the current stock, plus the new houses, moved quickly. The month of November is generally the most active month of the year, prior to the Christmas season.”

“The Auckland and Northland area achieved a record 29% growth – regional leaders were Ponsonby, Manukau and Manurewa.

“The central North Island, particularly the Bay of Plenty, increased activity by 17%, while both the lower North Island and upper South Island were up 12% – the latter continuing a year in which they have increased their trading by more than 12% overall.

“The Christchurch market is 20% ahead of last year and the lower South Island (with markets including Invercargill and Queenstown) shows an increase of 25%.”

Smith said Ray White listings for November were also up by 8%.

“When this is combined with turnover, it shows that the days on market for our company dramatically decreased and prices increased by an average of $19,000.”

The November trading result will see the group turnover annualised property sales of $6.5billion.

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