KEY POINTS:
One of Auckland's big real estate dealers says it has picked up on some spring optimism in the housing market.
Barfoot & Thompson says it made 559 sales in September, compared with 502 in August. This is still well down on the same month last year, when it handled 675 sales.
The average sale price recorded by the firm was $495,873, down $42,374 from the same month last year.
However, the average sale price dropped back below the $500,000 mark for the third time this year. The average sale price for August was $524,248.
Company managing director Peter Thompson says the month started strongly but there was a "noticeable impact from the credit crisis in the middle part of the month."
This could have been temporary, said Thompson, since the company had strong auctions sales last week.
"We had strong bidding at our Wednesday auctions and good clearance rates. These were not people chasing a bargain at mortgagee sales, but people attending our regular auctions intending to buy."
The company had a 17 per cent jump in the number of new listings during September, he said.
"The number of new listings coming on board generally increases at this time of year as the weather warms and vendors' properties are looking their best. I would expect this trend to continue during October," said Thompson.
- HERALD ONLINE
