PHOTO: Real Estate Agency Barfoot & Thompson reports a big jump in new property listings in January
More properties appear to be coming into the market, as a leading real estate company reports the highest number of new listings in eight years.
It comes as property prices continue to escalate. Latest data from CoreLogic indicates the national House Price Index rose 2.2 percent in just one month. Cheap borrowing, ex-pats returning home and the removal of LVR restrictions have all been cited as reasons for skyrocketing house prices, where demand exceeds supply.
Describing last month as “the busiest January in 17 years”, Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said 1086 houses sold through his agency. He attributes the recent spike in sales to a flurry of homeowners putting properties on the market after Christmas.
“What made such a high turnover possible was the extraordinarily high level of new listings for the month…at 1378, it was the highest in January for eight years,” Thompson said.
“The large influx of new listings was desperately needed as we started the year with only 2938 homes on our books.”
Compared to the previous three-month average, the median price of homes sold by the agency in January was down 3 percent, at $975,000. The average price was down 2.2 percent, at $1,068,134.
But Thompson doesn’t think house prices have peaked.
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