Apartments selling fast: agency

Apartment specialist City Sales says the Auckland market is very active and it sold 10 apartments at or soon after its auction last month.

City Sales is auctioning a collection of Auckland units tomorrow.

Apartments on offer include a two-bedroom unit in Shoalhaven at Takapuna, a unit in Quadrant near Auckland University, a two-bedroom apartment in The Docks and a two-bedroom unit in Harvard on Hobson.

Martin Dunn, the agency's managing director, said rival real estate agents were short of listings, notably of cheaper housing.

"Agents in the suburbs are scrambling to find houses to sell and in the lower-price echelons. New listings are walking out the door often with multiple offers and back-up agreements on them," Dunn said, adding that he saw signs of a market recovery.

"The outrageously overpriced Auckland housing market that some economists predict would fall another 20 per cent is simply going to firm up.

"It is a good time to buy a house and it is also a good time to buy another apartment. An upwardly mobile housing market has a positive effect on our apartment market."

* Auction at Hopetoun Alpha, 19 Beresford Square at 12.30pm tomorrow.