Big supply drop hits Auckland, Northland house sales

Harcourts says low interest rates and high demand is fuelling the northern region's property market. Photo / NZME

The number of Auckland and Northland houses for sale has dropped by nearly a quarter in the past year and lack of supply is an issue, according to the country's largest real estate agency business.

Harcourts has today released figures showing a 22.9 per cent listings drop between April last year and last month.

Chris Kennedy, Harcourts chief executive, said a number of factors were coming into play.

Low mortgage rates and high demand were continuing fuel the northern region market.

"This time last year we were coming off the two biggest months in our 128-year history, at the start of what was an extraordinary year. The market is starting to feel a little more settled, though still extremely active.

"Supply is still tight when compared to demand, meaning it is an excellent time to list to catch buyers before they start to hibernate for winter," Kennedy said.

The number of written residential property sales in Auckland and Northland rose 6.5 per cent on April 2015. Provisional figures also showed the average house price in the region in April was $865,055, up 9 per cent on the same period last year but down on last month's average $940,246.

Figures are due tomorrow from Quotable Value and Auckland's biggest agency, Barfoot & Thompson.