The trading banks and a government agency are playing their part in keeping the patchy Tauranga residential property market alive.
The banks, with money to lend, have relaxed their criteria and are offering mortgage specials, encouraging first homebuyers to get out and buy a house under $400,000.
Max Martin, franchise owner of Harcourts Advantage Realty, said people are realising "we are at the bottom of the (market), interest rates are so low and they have to start making some decisions.
"There is also competition amongst one or two banks to lend money, and are offering discounts (on mortgage terms)," he said.
Acting through a mortgage broker, borrowers can now obtain a 12-month home loan rate for about 5.5 per cent - a discount of 0.35 per cent.
It is understood Housing New Zealand Corporation is presently in the market buying smaller homes in the $300,000-$310,000 price bracket for its tenants. The corporation could add more than 10 properties to its portfolio.
Overall, sales activity remains steady in the region and prices have slipped slightly.
The latest New Zealand Real Estate Institute figures show 74 sales for Mount Maunganui and Papamoa last month, down from 78 in March. For the rest of the city, there were 103 sales in April, down from 119 in March, a busy month.
The number of sales were slightly ahead of April last year, which was 70 in Mount/Papamoa and 97 in the other suburbs.
Even though there have been reports of increasing buyer activity in the higher-priced end of the market, the median selling prices slumped.
The median fell from $432,500 in March to $389,500 last month in Mount/Papamoa and across the harbour the median dropped a similar amount from $360,000 to $320,000.
This reflected the continued activity in the lower-priced bracket by first homebuyers, and investors who are starting to emerge again.
The latest QV Valuations figures show that property values, to the end of April, have decreased by 1.7 per cent over the past 12 months, an improvement on the 2.4 per cent drop for the year ending March.
Tauranga city's average sales price, calculated on three months of selling, dropped through the $400,000 level for the first time in several years, reaching $399,358. For the March period, there were signs of recovery with the average reaching $403,744.
In August 2008, the average was as high as $445,203 and it reached $422,746 in February after nearly two years of a severe downturn in the housing market.
Shayne Donovan-Grammer, of QV Valuations in Tauranga, said prices were a little sharper.
"The Tauranga market is fairly patchy. There are small bursts of activity followed by quiet periods. The good news is we have seen more sales activity than most of last year, and levels are now similar to that of 12 months ago."
Greg Purcell, franchise owner of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, said all bets had long gone off in the property market.
"I've been in this industry 20 years and I thought I could predict things. But the old rules don't apply. We came through an ordinary summer and you can take the line that the latest flurry is a correction, to some degree."
Mr Purcell said the Mount suffered like other coastal areas in New Zealand, and the apartments and beachfront houses with big price tags went into freefall.
"They've found their ground now and what we are seeing is more consistency to the market. If sellers price their properties well, then they are going to get reasonable buying interest," he said.
Mr Martin agreed that the market, at present, is unpredictable. He said the week before Easter was the best for his firm in three years, and then the week after Easter was one of the worst. "Then May has been busy and we are seeing sales $1 million plus and right down."
Ross Stanway, chief executive of Realty Services which operates Bayleys and Eves, said Tauranga has had three solid months in a row and that was strong enough to establish a trend of increased buyer commitment and activity.