Real estate agent auction rooms empty as clearance rates fall

PHOTO: Auctions. FILE

According to ONEROOF the market shift is apparent in Auckland’s auction rooms, where more and more properties are passing in.

At Barfoot & Thompson, one of Auckland’s biggest auction agencies, just one third of the 370 properties that had been taken to auction between February 8 and February 18 had sold under the hammer.

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The clearance rate for the period was down from the 46% rate recorded for the period covering the second half of January.

That’s quite a change from the 78% clearance rate the agency recorded in the six weeks to the end of October, when 910 properties sold under the hammer.

Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Murray Smith said that properties at the upper end of the market were proving easier to sell, as wealthier buyers were not so dependent on mortgages and had easier access to money, but mid-range properties in the city were struggling.

“It is funny that we’re now calling $2m mid-range. In general, we’ve got good interest in properties, but it’s [a challenge] getting people over the line.”