Auckland's biggest real estate company says a jump in sales of top-end properties last month pushed average sale prices up 3.2 per cent - a $16,000 lift.
Barfoot and Thompson's monthly sales stats have just been released, showing an average selling price of $547,883, the highest monthly average in six months.
Company managing director Peter Thompson said that prices traditionally rose at the start of spring.
However, "in anticipation that the hype around rugby might interfere with our normal spring promotions," the company had brought forward its marketing campaigns by a month.
"Certainly as a result of that a number of sellers actively sought to list earlier than they might have otherwise done," said Thompson. "In September the top end of the market was extremely active, and we sold six homes in excess of $2 million and another 45 in excess of $1 million.