The median price for houses sold with Auckland's biggest agency managed to rise in June.
For Auckland residential houses, the median price for homes Barfoot & Thompson sold edged up by 2 per cent.
"No one saw that modest increase coming," said Peter Thompson, Barfoot & Thompson managing director.
But prospective sellers thinking about popping the champagne might want to bear something in mind.
Despite the jump in median prices, the average price in June actually fell 2.6 per cent to $1,158,464.
"Rather than seeing the median price increase as a low water mark, it is more likely to be a statistical blip that can occur when comparing statistics on a month-by-month basis," Thompson said.
"The $1,147,500 median price stopped a three-month gradual decline in the median price and was 3.5 percent higher than the median price in June last year," he added.
There was no major shift in the numbers of homes being sold in various price brackets.
Thompson said the median price increase, even if a blip, did show house prices were not in full retreat.
But only 684 properties were sold in Auckland, down 12.5 percent on June.
"As occurred in 2010, it is in the number of sales being made where the impact is being felt most," Thompson said.
Rather than accept the prices on offer, some homeowners were removing homes from the market.
The June statistics followed a dismal May for many sellers.
TradeMe said the national average asking price had the largest month-on-month drop on record in May.
The online marketplace said the number of properties for sale also reached an all-time high in May.
Westpac's conduct affected a total of 24,621 customers.