Auckland market ends 2018 ‘softly’

Auckland house prices ended 2018 down on the previous year, the first time that’s happened since 2008.

But ASB said the fall in Auckland’s median house price of 0.8 per cent during 2018 did not herald a market crash.

‘‘The rebalancing in the Auckland housing market is expected to continue into 2019,’’ ASB economist Kim Mundy said.

‘‘However, there do remain a number of solid supports including ongoing population growth, easing loan-to-value (LVR) restrictions and still-low interest rates.’’ Barfoot & Thompson’s December house price data, released yesterday, highlighted a ‘‘very soft’’ end to 2018 for the Auckland housing market, Mundy said. There were fewer sales, and fewer new listings in December compared with the same month in 2017. And, Mundy said: ‘‘We are expecting to see more soft data results over 2019.

‘‘The ban on foreign buyers and tax changes are expected to further dampen demand in a housing market that is now a buyers’ market.’’

But resident buyers could now borrow more from banks, as the rules limiting the proportion of loans they can make at more than 80 per cent of the value of homes has been eased by the Reserve Bank. And the city’s population continued to grow, she said.

These influences should limit the extent of any price falls.

‘‘In the past few months the tide has turned towards it becoming a buyers’ market,’’ said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson. ‘‘The overriding market sentiment at present is indecision as to the direction the market is heading.

‘‘Overall, 2018 was a more active year for residential sales than 2017 with sales numbers year-on-year up 8.1 per cent.’’ But the median sale price was $836,792 in 2018, down 0.8 per cent on 2017.