The Ray White Group completed close to $½ billion in property sales for the month of August. This showed an increase of 34% ahead of the same time last year and was 5% up on July 2012. The continuing lift in sales is attributed to the continued repositioning of Canterbury property owners; the consistently lower interest rates as well as the limited number of properties currently available to buyers in the market.
The Auckland zone was again up 36% and this region has shown positive increases every month during 2012. It is the first month listings have positively increased, up by 22% on last month. In Northland the Ray White market share continues to increase, with turnover up by over 100% due to the growth in the Ray White office numbers.The Central North Island region showed a strong increase in auction and controlled listing numbers and turnover was up just over 100%. The Lower North Island showed an increase of 80% with listing stock remaining relatively flat. The Upper South Island decreased in turnover by 9% and this was attributed to the relative lack of stock coming onto the market in this area. The Canterbury region was up by 12% with good listing numbers coming through. The Lower South Island also showed a 54% increase which resulted in listing stock also increasing.
The top five offices for Ray White nationally were Ray White City Apartments who completed over 70 property sales and listed 102 properties. They were also appointed to the release of SugarTree which has over 500 apartments. The Ray White Ponsonby office were number two, completing $20 million in property sales. The Ray White Ellerslie office had an outstanding month, listing 49 properties and completing 34 sales. Ray White Metro in Christchurch unconditionally sold $10.5 million in property; with Ray White Pinehill completing 35 sales for $11 million in turnover.
In Northland, Ray White Whangarei was the top office. In Auckland, other offices outside the top five to feature were Ray White Mt Eden, Ray White Mt Albert and Ray White Royal Oak. The Central North Island had Ray White Hamilton as the top zone office; Ray White Papamoa and Ray White Mill Street in Hamilton also had a good month. Ray White Wellington City and Ray White Palmerston North achieved good sales results in the Lower North Island. In the Upper South Island Ray White Richmond sold close to $8 million in properties. The Canterbury region saw Ray White Metro, Ray White Rolleston, and Ray White Unlimited all complete sales above $7 million. In the Lower South, Ray White Invercargill, Ray White Dunedin, Ray White Queenstown and Ray White Arrowtown showed good results.
Overall the property market in New Zealand will continue to gather momentum as more properties come onto the market through the Ray White Group. The Ray White results reflect market conditions and they also reflect the growth of the Ray White Group, with new offices opening during August in Wanaka, Newlands, Grey Lynn and Broadway.
.