It will come as no surprise that sales volumes dropped steeply on the North Shore in April, with Level 4 lockdown making selling and purchasing a home a real chore. However, what delighted vendors who persevered and managed to make a sale during this time was the 14% hike in median price, compared to April 2019. This indicates a real thirst to buy in what has, in the past, been considered a logistically challenging area to live.
Back across the bridge, heading out to the city's western fringes, sales volumes also suffered, but again, homeowners who braved the uncertainty were handsomely rewarded with a 36% increase in the median sale price, year on year. Since January, the western fringe market has headed in one direction – up!
Due to the extraordinary circumstances and the subsequent ban on gatherings, there was a shift away from auctions being the predominant method of sale in April and early May. However, as we now head into June, the auction hammer is once again routinely coming down, hard. Expect to see plenty of auction action in the coming month.
Off the back of one of the most unpredictable periods of most of our lives, we fully expect there will be a shortage of available homes for sale, with massive competition for those coming on. Evidence of this is that our sales managers have been working late into the evenings most nights in May, processing an avalanche of multi-offers, with buyers clambering to finish on top.
