NZ home transfers up by a third this quarter

Home transfers in the March 2021 quarter were up by one-third compared with the same period last year, Stats NZ said today.

There were 44,586 home transfers in the March 2021 quarter, down from the high of 51,504 seen in the December 2020 quarter but still up 34 percent compared with the same period last year.

Property statistics manager Michael Heslop said the high number of home transfers in March followed a strong December 2020 quarter. “Typically, there is a seasonal drop between the December and March quarters in part due to the summer holiday period.”

Auckland led the rise in the number of home transfers with 5,628 (60%) more home transfers occurring in the March 2021 quarter when compared with the March 2020 quarter, but rises were seen across all regions except Hawke’s Bay.

Other major regions with large annual increases include Canterbury, up 1,509 (31%); Waikato, up 1,122 (30%); and Wellington, up 669 (20%). Northland, Nelson, West Coast, and Otago also saw annual increases of at least 30%.

Auckland continues to dominate the overall market with home transfers up 80 percent from two years ago.

Meanwhile, the number of home transfers to buyers without New Zealand citizenship or resident visas has generally been falling since 2018 when restrictions on the sale of residential property to overseas people came into force.

There were 192 home transfers made to buyers without New Zealand citizenship or resident visas in the March 2021 quarter – just 0.4 % of all home transfers.

Interestingly, the most home transfers to people without New Zealand citizenship or resident visas occurred in Waitematā (Auckland inner city). There were 75 this quarter, making up 5.6% of total home transfers in the area.