Auckland is a turbulent property market at the best of times – making any move in real estate there can feel risky and stressful. When you’re making a sale, there’s nothing more important than getting the best offers through and getting them through as quickly as possible. Nobody wants to have a house that sits on the market for six months and everybody wants as much capital to work with as possible. Prices in the central and surrounding Auckland suburbs, such as Te Atatu Peninsular, New Lynn and Titirangi, have risen around 5% in the past twelve months – if you’ve been waiting for a good time to sell then the time has come. While prices in the North Shore area are varied, Hillcrest and Forest Hills are proving particularly popular.

Selling your home through auction

Compared to offer and negotiation sale methods, auctions offer vendors a way to encourage a quick sale on their terms. No matter how much marketing and how many places you list a property, a house can sit on the market without any interest for months. Auctions force potential buyers into a ‘now or never’ situation and have been one of the most popular methods of sale in the last year.

Close to 40% of houses for sale in Auckland at the moment are being put up for auction – the highest number in history – and are popular with owners because of the concentrated volume of offers and popular with bidders because of the transparency of the purchase process. Reliably fast, the average sale time for a property going to auction in the city is only three weeks.

The current state of real estate

While not the best time for buyers, Auckland property is currently experiencing a lot of demand: great news for those who want to sell up for a good price. The past four years have been rocky at best for New Zealand real estate but sales have been busier in mid-2012 than we’ve seen since 2003. An average real estate price of 582,000 NZD is the highest ever recorded in the city, with a lower number of home builds in the past few years a contributing factor to current prices.

As always, schooling plays a huge impact on the demand for any suburbs’ real estate; Epsom, for instance, within zoning for Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girl’s Grammar schools has a median sale price of more than 960,000 NZD. Owners looking to move to somewhere smaller after the kids have left high school are in the perfect position to do so through a sale.

Take advantage of the current property market – now is the time to make a sale in Auckland. Sell through auction to attract more interest from buyers and work with a registered real estate agent to get a better offer.

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