Agency sales show Auckland rise defying house price trend

A $60,000 annual price jump in Auckland house prices has been reported by New Zealand's largest real estate agency.

Harcourts noted the price rise in the northern region area, where Auckland is the biggest market.

The company said prices in other regions had dropped between 3 and 24 per cent in the same time.

Northern region houses sold for an average $536,000 last month, up from $476,000 a year earlier. The number of written sales jumped from 252 to 433 and auctions and tenders rose from 95 to 106.

Nationally, Harcourts' sales were up 44 per cent between last April and last month and the Auckland and Christchurch regions showed the best signs of activity.

The Harcourts figures come two days after the Real Estate Institute noted a $5000 rise in the national median house price, houses taking less time to sell and steady sales numbers, although economists warned against too much optimism about the market.

Institute president Mike Elford said a degree of confidence had returned and the data reinforced a level of price and turnover stability.

Although the number of sales slipped from 6694 in March to 6210 last month, turnover was strong in Auckland where 2081 houses changed hands, up on the 1350 a year ago.

QV said on Monday national prices had dropped 9.2 per cent for the three months to April compared to the same period in the previous year.

House prices in Auckland fell 9 per cent in April from a year ago against a 10.1 per cent drop in March, while Wellington fell 8.5 per cent. The average sale fell to $372,981 in April from $378,399 in March, QV said.

Harcourts chief executive Bryan Thomson said people were now motivated to move.

"Sales have been at below sustainable levels with even those people who needed to buy or sell holding off.

But that pent-up activity is now taking place and sales volumes have returned to more normal levels."

Harcourts' figures are in its MarketWatch newsletter, a monthly report of activity.

Lower interest rates and more affordable prices were two of the reasons the market was recovering, Mr Thomson said.

"Perhaps there is another factor that can't be measured on a graph. Many Kiwis have become sick and tired of all the negativity and fed up with putting their lives on hold so they've decided to be positive, to stop stalling and to take action in the real estate market.

"Also it's now well over a year since the property market turned after a number of years of heady price rises and high turnover so most sellers coming to the market are fully conversant with the new environment and current value," he said.

Sellers who had been hanging on and hoping for higher prices were being ignored by buyers who were competing for quality property being offered by more realistic sellers.

Mr Thompson said buyers needed to ensure they knew about prices and competition because if expected to pay too little, they would be disappointed.