Auckland property sales lift in February

The number of houses sold by Barfoot & Thompson went up 9.9 per cent in February against January's low. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The number of house sales in Auckland bounced back from January's slump, with new listings returning to more normal levels.

Real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson's sold 619 houses last month, up 9.9 per cent from January, with 1,529 new lists in the month, almost twice as many as in January.

The city's biggest real estate agent had 6,053 listings on its books at the end of the month, up almost 200 from January.

"The number of homes sold in the month is on a par with the number we have sold at this time of year for the past four years,"
managing director Peter Thompson said in a statement. "The key to the market continuing to turn over modestly is new listings.
There is not a glut of homes on the market."

Real Estate Institute data showed house sales fell to a record low in January, while property values extended their decline that month. The market has been in a slump over the past year as dwindling migration and a focus on repaying debt has households spurning big-ticket purchases.

ASB economist Chris Tennent-Brown said the flat total listings suggested "some sellers are withdrawing their houses from the market if they are not selling."

The average sale price rose 1.2 per cent to $421,887, the real estate agent said.

The average weekly rent fell $14 to $402 last month in Barfoot's portfolio of 817 properties. The portfolio was the same size as in January, and 112 properties bigger than in February a year ago.