March 2008 Market Update

Period	Number of Sales*	Volume of Sales
March 2008	632 Properties	$330,116,531
March 2007	1444 Properties	$814,650,626
12 months to March 2008	9388 Properties	$5,047,218,111
12 months to March 2007	11975 Properties	$5,982,192,484

^*Excludes Northland and Commercial

Auckland property prices hold but sales volume low

The average sale price for Auckland property increased more than 5% last month, despite the slowest March for more than 10 years, according to the latest figures from Auckland real estate leader Barfoot & Thompson.

The average sale price for March 2008 was $522,336, up 5.2% from $495,272 in February. However, sales volume was low at just 632 sales, compared to 1,444 for March 2007 – a 56.2% decline year on year.

Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson says there is often a price lift in March associated with the end of the financial year, but prices have clearly eased back overall from where they were at the end of last year.

“From a volume perspective, March was certainly very quiet and the affect seems to have been felt across all sectors of the market from modest first homes through to the million plus category.”

The company also ended the month with high stock levels. It had 7,379 properties on its books at the close of March, compared to a monthly average of 4,817 for the whole of 2007.

In the property management area, March was marked by an increase in average weekly rent to $391, up from 382 in February.

Mr Thompson says, “This is a likely reflection of landlords passing on interest rate rises and other increased costs to tenants.” Barfoot & Thompson let 622 houses and units in March, compared to 714 in February and 748 in January.