Auckland house prices rose to their highest February average on record, while new listings reached a 23-month high at real estate company Barfoot & Thompson.
The $521,323 average last month was up 3.2% from January, and up 1.7% from February 2009.
Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said the 626 sales last month were high for a February, up 7.4% on January and up 12% on a year earlier.
The 1714 new listings last month were the highest in 23 months, with the 6247 homes on the company's books the highest since the end of March 2009.
"Taken together, these indicators point to a balanced and competitive market," Mr Thompson said today.
"In Auckland, the main driver of buying activity remains owner occupiers, either trading up or moving into the Auckland area, and for these people concerns about any changes in government policy around housing or any modest interest rate increase are not major deterrents."
Mr Thompson said that while a seasonal uplift had been expected last month, a February average close to that for the whole of the previous year had not been recorded before.
For the past two years the average February price had been between $10,000 and $20,000 below the average for the previous year, but last month's average was only about $1000 below the $522,297 for the 2009 year.
The market was now entering what was traditionally its most active season for house sales.
The high average price and number of sales reported by Barfoot & Thompson last month, appear to contrast with some other reports suggesting the nationwide property market may be slowing.
Releasing ASB's housing confidence survey last week, bank chief economist Nick Tuffley said possible changes to tax rules around housing and a flagged increase in the official cash rate around the middle of the year meant uncertainty was weighing down the market.
The survey suggested confidence in the housing market, which recovered in 2009, was showing signs of softening again.
In its latest economic indicators, Treasury said that following a strong bounce-back in the middle of 2009, housing activity had lost momentum in recent months.
While some of the weakness may reflect uncertainty about future property tax changes, it was more likely initial euphoria resulting from historically low interest rates earlier in 2009 had somewhat faded, Treasury said.
