Is spring sparking Auckland house market? Barfoot sees 14% new listing jump

More Aucklanders are putting their houses up for sale, with the city's dominant agency reporting a 14 per cent rise between August and September.

Peter Thompson, Barfoot & Thompson managing director, said 1052 new properties were listed by his agency in August but that jumped to 1204 last month but new data out yesterday from Quotable Value said there was no spring recovery yet.

"After a relatively quiet winter, the expectation was that with the arrival of spring we would see house sale activity increase. The most significant number in the month's trading data was the increase in new listings at 1204, up 14.4 per cent on those for August and up 12.2 per cent on the average number for the previous three months," he said today.

Buyers get more choice as listing numbers rise, he said. March recorded the highest number of new listings this year at 1571 in the busy summer season, followed by 1563 in February - well ahead of September.

Agents sold 771 properties last month, down on the 963 they sold in March which was the agency's record month this year. The average house price was $922,863 in September, down on August's $930,090 but up on July's $919,648.

Yesterday, Quotable Value released national house value data for September saying spring had not resulted in any immediate recovery.

North Shore values dropped 3.5 per cent in the year to September and by 0.3 per cent during the past three months. The average value is now $1,173,529.

Values in the former Auckland City Council central suburbs dropped 1.5 per cent year on year but has increased 0.6 per cent during the past three months and the average value there is now $1,215,401.

Waitakere values dropped by 1.4 per cent annually, Manakau was down 1.3 per cent, Papakura down 0.4 per cent but Franklin values rose 0.2 per cent. Rodney values were down 0.9 per cent, QV said.

QV Auckland property consultant Hugh Robson said: "The Auckland residential market remains fairly quiet as we head into spring. Typically, we should see a slight to moderate increase in the number of listings over the next two to three months, as people wanting to sell place their properties on the market hoping for a sale before Christmas."