Auckland's largest real estate agency experienced a strong lift in new listings last month with almost twice as many homes being newly listed for sale with Barfoot & Thompson compared to a year ago.
There were 2123 homes newly listed for sale with Barfoots in August, up 19.5% compared to July and up a whopping 88% compared with August last year.
It was the highest number of new listings recorded by Barfoots in an August month in at least 10 years and Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson described the surge in listings as "exceptional."
However while the number of new properties coming to market was up sharply, the number of sales and prices both declined slightly.
The company sold 1314 homes in August, down 5% from the 1388 it sold in July but still well up 45% on the 909 homes it sold in August last year.
The median price of homes sold in August was $755,000, which means the median has declined for two months in a row since it hit an all time high of $786,000 in June.
However it was still up $125,000, or 20%, on the August 2014 median of $630,000.
"We are now at a crossroads in terms of where prices go," Thompson said.
"With the coming of spring we can expect pressure to go back on prices as factors which have led to record prices in the first place, such as low mortgage rates, shortages of supply and demand from a growing population still remain.
"However, countering this is the pressure the Reserve Bank and the Government is applying by way of new rules and regulations to keep a lid on Auckland price increases, and concerns around world-wide economic stability."
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