Million-dollar sales up locally but down across the country

MILLION-DOLLAR property sales are on the rise in Wellington, with 429 sold in the first half of 2019 compared to 399 for the same period last year.

But sales of properties for more than $3 million nearly halved, from five in the first half of 2018 to three this year, according to a Real Estate Institute of New Zealand report.

It says Wellington was one of nine regions to post million dollarsale gains while six regions recorded falls or no change.

The capital recorded more million dollar-plus sales than any other region (30) but Gisborne scored the biggest percentage increase, 166.7 percent (up from three in the first half of 2018 to eight).

It was followed by Manawatu/ Wanganui (114.3 percent, up from seven to 15), Hawke’s Bay (47.4 percent, up from 38 to 56) and Tasman (16.7 percent, up from 18 to 21).

But nationally the number of one million dollar-plus properties sold fell by 11.2 percent, to 4963, compared to the first half of 2018.

Overall, 4963 houses within the one million-plus category were sold, down 628 on the first half of 2018.

There were 174 houses sales in the three-million-dollar plus category, which was 62 fewer, 29 houses above $5 million, which was down 19.

Auckland was at the forefront of the decline, registering 722 fewer high-end sales.

Exclude Auckland from the data and collectively the 14 other REINZ regions contributed to a 6.7 percent rise in million dollar-plus sales, from 1406 in the first six months of 2018 to 1500.

‘‘We typically expect to see Auckland performing relatively well in our Million Dollar Price Report, so it’s interesting to see a -17.3 percent drop in sales of million dollar plus homes so far this year,’’ REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell says.

‘‘However, when you look at the bigger picture, it aligns with the shift we’ve been seeing over the past few months as Aucklanders continue to search for more affordable properties and lifestyles in various regions and median prices in the region have stabilised.

‘‘It’s always promising to see an increase in sales across other parts of the country where real estate continues to go from strength-tostrength.

‘‘With some renewed confidence entering the market including in Auckland in the last few months, it will be interesting to see what happens in the second half of the year.’’