Record May for Ray White New Zealand with $1.76BN in sales

Ray White New Zealand has completed its highest level of sales for the individual month of May – setting a new record in the process.
 
Completing 1,635 sales, the group saw a substantive increase in May 2020 which was a period that had Level 3 restrictive trading and other conditions which indicated a lack of confidence from buyers within the market.
 
In comparison to last month being April 2021, the group sales numbers were up by eight per cent and the prices continued to lift on a national basis.
 
In total, the group completed $1.76 billion worth of property trading, and this was an increase of 210.9 per cent on May 2020.
 
Carey Smith, Chief Executive of Ray White New Zealand, said the impact of the government housing policy was taking some effect.
 
“The policy has seen lower investor numbers come to the market as buyers, and while there’s still positive interest from first home buyers, there was less activity overall from this buyer classification,” Mr Smith said.
 
“It was in the area of the second, third, and fourth home buyers that continues to see consistent activity in auction rooms with prices reflecting strong buyer activity and confidence. 
 
“Given that during the past 12 months prices have increased on average just over 20 per cent in New Zealand, there’s an underlying confidence in the real estate market given the continued low interest rates and the potential of capital gain and equity build in property.
 
“When we look at the market sales in May 2021, data shows that 22 per cent of sales across New Zealand for the Ray White Group are affected by first home buyers.
 
“A further reduction of investors buying property saw 19 per cent of sales being attributed to the investor classification while the balance of purchases was made up of those who were in the mode to change their property by way of location, upgrading or downsizing.”
 
On the back of a strong first quarter in increased property values, Auckland saw a further rise of 1.3 per cent to an average of $1,306,007.
 
The provincial suburbs of Hamilton and Tauranga continue to show a lot of activity with their average sale prices lifting by more than four per cent for the month.
 
In Wellington and Christchurch, there were rises of three per cent in both markets. Wellington house prices for the first time exceeded $1 million, at an average sale price of $1,011,000.
 
Our auction data for May saw 74.5 per cent of all properties auctioned successfully sold and this was slightly down from 75.7 per cent.
 
Within those properties, our internal data showed that sellers who proceeded to take their property to sell under the hammer were rewarded with a 10.64 per cent increase on the best offer prior to auction.
 
On average, there were 3.5 registered bidders for every property, compared to 3.3 buyers in the month of April. Also showing a rise was the number of auction campaigns with active bidders and this moved to 83.7 per cent.
 
Overall, for the month of May, there were 1,616 listings secured. This was an increase of 7.6 per cent over May 2020. While the listings increased marginally, the overall listing portfolio decreased, given the number of sales.
 
For the past 12 months the reduction in listings available on the market through Ray White is 18.34 per cent, and we currently hold a total of 3,392 properties, which is 824 less than the same time last year.
 
Ray White Remuera were the top office in the group for May, completing $136 million worth of sales which resulted in their personal best for the month of May.
 
Ray White Ponsonby and Ray White Manukau finished at number two and number three, respectively. The top 10 offices for Ray White completed $533 million worth of sales, which was an increase of 125 per cent on May 2020.
 
“While the government policy has seen some effect in regard to investor confidence, there’s been a shift towards understanding more deeply the portfolio effect for those who own more than one property and the potential to consider restructuring portfolios to include new builds and other areas that the government is supporting,” Mr Smith said
 
“First home buyers continue to enjoy record low interest rates, and while prices continue to increase, there’s a significant amount of equity build that continues to occur and this provides significant confidence for those purchasing as well as selling.”