House listings more than doubled in February

February was the month many Aucklanders decided to list their houses for sale, as huge number of new residential real estate stock was listed with the city's largest agency.

Barfoot & Thompson figures showed 2060 new listings in February, more than double January's 919 and the highest since August last year when there were 2123 new listings.
At the end of February, Barfoot had 3318 property listings available, well up on January's 2574 listings.

Yet 698 properties sold last month, down on January's 893 sales. The median residential price fell from $760,000 in January to $738,000 last month. But the average rose from $811,700 to $822,024.

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In a commentary on the figures, Barfoot managing director Peter Thompson said the prices were a retreat from last year's record highs.

However, for the past two months prices have been higher than their equivalents in 2015, and in the past this has meant that prices have risen throughout the year. This trend has occurred over the past nine years, he said.

"We have now had two months of trading where prices have been higher than they were in their equivalent months last year, and in the past that has meant prices have risen throughout the year.

"The most significant figures in February's data were that sales numbers stalled and new listings doubled.

"The number of properties sold at 698 was the lowest in any month for 3 years. The reason was that at the start of February the number of properties on the market was at its lowest number for 20 years, and buyers had limited choice.

"However, as the month progressed more properties were listed, and we finished the month with 2,060 new listings, the highest number in the past six months. There are currently an extremely high number of properties in the pipeline for settlement in March and April.

"At month end we had 3,318 properties on our books, the highest since March last year, and we anticipate an extremely busy period through autumn," Thompson said.