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Auckland's largest agency Barfoot & Thompson has had one of its busiest auction weeks.
Managing director Peter Thompson said his firm auctioned 79 houses during three days last week and that made it an extremely busy time because the firm was auctioning just 40 places a week in the winter.
He expected a 58 per cent clearance rate of last week's properties.
"Just over a third were sold under the hammer and I'm just waiting to hear within the week how many places have sold subsequently," he said. "We had bids on most places - only eight houses didn't get bids."
About 60 places were sold by auction last Wednesday at a marathon event at Barfoot's city head offices from 9.30am until 5.30pm.
Thompson warned against selling too many places on one day, saying time was often needed for vendors and buyers to negotiate after places were passed in.
A mass apartment auction is also being held in Auckland today.
Apartment specialist City Sales is auctioning 18 apartments and says it already has 12 to sell at its next auction on December 10.
Martin Dunn, head of City Sales, said today would be one of his busiest this year.