The Impact of Auctions on Residential Sales Prices in New Zealand

The use of an auction to sell residential real estate in the United States is often associated with distressed sales such as foreclosure, bankruptcy or estate settlement. In other areas of the world, auctions are more commonly used and viewed as a viable, preferred method of selling a house. This article uses hedonic pricing methodology to compare the sale prices of houses in Christchurch, New Zealand sold at auction with those sold by private treaty. The results indicate that in some cases auctions can result in premium sale prices. In none of the cases studied did auctions result in lower prices than private-treaty sales.