New sales figures show the Auckland housing market has found a new base, real estate company Barfoot & Thompson says.
The company said its average sale price rose just on $10,000 to $507,384 in July compared to a year earlier, while 23.8 percent more sales were made than in July 2008 with 779 properties being sold.
As anticipated, the average price edged down on the previous month, by 2.8 percent. The sales volumes were down by 9.5 percent on June, managing director Peter Thompson said.
The market often marked time for a period before the start of spring activity.
"Overall, July activity can be seen as a month which emphasised that Auckland housing has found a new base," Mr Thompson said.
"People are feeling comfortable with current prices and trends." More sellers were entering the market, with the 1386 properties listed for sale in July up 16.6 percent on June, and an 18.4 percent increase on July last year, Mr Thompson said.
"Our new listings were the highest they have been in four months, and it is yet another sign that Auckland is shaking off constraints caused by uncertainty about the economy and future prices." The market was showing no signs of giving up the gains made over the prices and sales volumes recorded last year.
ASB economist Jane Turner said that with a pick up in demand and a continued decline in excess supply, house prices were likely to be stabilising.
Even with the pick up in new listings, the total number of available listings was continuing to decline, starting to settle around average levels and restoring the balance between supply and demand, she said.
Potential sellers were being tempted back now the housing market was improving.
Seasonally adjusted, Barfoot & Thompson's Auckland house sales were down only 0.4 percent in July, while adjusted new listings were up 8.2 percent following an 11 percent rise in June.
"The housing market continues to hold onto its recent gains, although the level of turnover remains below average levels." Barfoot & Thompson also said the average rent achieved in July remained steady at $388 a week, while the number of properties let to tenants increased by 7.5 percent to 790, on a par with that achieved in the traditional peak month of January.
July was often a solid month for letting properties, but last month was the first time the company had let the same number of properties in July as it did in January, Mr Thompson said.
That could be partly explained by the wide choice of rental properties available, and people with a single property to let placing their property with professional property managers to secure tenants.
The average weekly rent last month was $4 higher than in July last year and the number of properties let was up 11 percent.
