Real estate agents report good August

New Zealand's real estate agents are reporting signs of a positive spring in the property market.

The BNZ-REINZ residential market survey has just been published, which looks at eight different measures to gauge the health of the property market.

All these had strengthened through August, says the report, "indicating that slowly but surely on average things are shifting to a sellers' market."

"More and more first home buyers are appearing, prices are perceived to be edging upward, and auction clearance rates are considered to be improving."

REINZ's agents say that more people are going through open homes - though this might be simply a seasonal explanation, with better spring weather.

More people are contacting real estate agents to get an appraisal of their property, says the report. In the survey, 37 per cent of agents report more first home buyers entering the market, with fewer investors looking at buying.

REINZ last month has reported there were 4928 properties sold in July, was down 5.8 per cent or 301 from June but up from 4411 in July a year ago.

The institute said the median price fell 4.2 per cent to $345,000 in July from $360,000 in June and was down from $349,000 in July a year ago.

The Housing Price Index has been relatively stable for the past few months.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE