Home transfers in Auckland go through roof

The number of home transfers, including sales, in Auckland were up 53 percent in December 2020 compared with the same month in 2019, Stats NZ said today.

There were 5,919 home transfers in Auckland in December 2020, up from 3,861 in December 2019. Nationally, the monthly number of home transfers rose 40 percent in December 2020 to 19,224, including the 53 percent increase in Auckland, and a 48 percent rise in Canterbury.

Property transfers often involve a sale, but also include marriage settlements, and boundary or trustee changes that don't involve a direct sale or purchase.

"Recent highs in home transfer numbers over the past four months might be linked to several factors, including a catch-up from COVID-19, and a rise in new home building," said property statistics manager Michael Heslop said.

"December was the fourth month in a row when Auckland home transfer numbers were at least one-third higher than the same month in 2019, following a sharp drop in April during the national COVID-19 lockdown."

It is not currently possible to identify how many home buyers were New Zealand citizens who returned in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annual home transfers up 5.1 percent

Nationally, there were 152,532 home transfers in the year ended December 2020, up 5.1 percent from 2019.

"The number of home transfers in the second half of 2020 was up 23 percent from the same period in 2019, more than making up for the 14 percent decrease in the first half of the year that was impacted by COVID-19," Mr Heslop said.

The proportion of home transfers to people without New Zealand citizenship or resident visas was 0.4 percent in 2020, down from 0.5 percent in 2019.

"Overseas home buyers remain largely absent from the market following a law change in 2018 banning the purchase of most homes," Mr Heslop said.

Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 has more detail.

We estimate that there were 1.9 million homes in New Zealand in 2020 . Almost 8 percent of the dwelling stock were involved in a home transfer, though there may have been multiple transfers for some homes.