KEY POINTS:
New Zealand house sales recovered a little in July, while the median price was unchanged despite a decline in the Auckland market, the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) said.
The number of houses sold rose slightly to 4489 from 4305 in June, recovering from 16-year lows, although the average days it took to sell rose to 58 from 52.
The national median price remained at $340,000, following a 1.4 per cent decline in June, with nine out of 12 regions recording increases.
"There is an unmistakeable degree of recovery in July, which is surprising given that it is generally regarded as the worst winter month, with good improvement in median prices around the country despite continued low sales volumes," said REINZ president Murray Cleland.
In Auckland, the median price fell to $421,000 from $435,000, on "dismal" sales of 1411 properties, he said.
There was a drop in sales of properties over $1 million, while the shakeout of the bottom end of the apartment market appeared to have weighed on Auckland City, where the median price slumped to $443,000, from $472,100 in June.
"It's not surprising that Auckland is finding itself very much at the epicentre of the current economic recession and in particular the continued fallout from the finance sector collapses, and it's therefore understandable that confidence in the Auckland residential market at this point is pretty low," Mr Cleland said.
An unchanged national median price in the face of a declining Auckland market was a good result in the circumstances, he said.
The national median price was down 1.44 per cent from a year earlier, against June's annual decline of 2.15 per cent.
- NZPA
