Traditional spring market true to form

The latest Harcourts MarketWatch showed nationwide, the company wrote 44% more sales in September than the same month last year, with a 90% increase in the Northern region.

Exclusive listings were healthily improved throughout the nation compared to a year earlier, bar Christchurch, which showed a 17% drop in new listings, despite solid sales for the month. The Central region saw the highest rate of new listings for September, up 22%.

Although sales dropped towards the end of the month, likely due to the shocking weather than affected much of the country, Harcourts is expecting strong sales to continue throughout the Christmas season.

"As our statistics show there has been an increase in new listings, with auctions and tenders continuing to be heavily utilised by sellers keen to maximise the potential result, while according to anecdotal evidence from around the group there is ongoing strong demand from a wide range of buyers which bodes well for the next few months," Harcourts CEO Bryan Thompson says.

He believes today's buyers and sellers are making "reasoned" decisions on sales and prices, with confidence from both groups building.

Excluding South Island provincial regions, all areas throughout the country saw healthy growth in written sales, with the Central region increasing 49%, Wellington 23%, Christchurch 56%. The Southland saw a 2% drop in sales.

Average sale prices throughout the county were mixed for September, when compared to the same month last year. The South Island provincial regions, Christchurch and Wellington all saw an increase of 5%, 3% and 8% respectively, while the Northern region's average sale price dropped 4%, despite a whopping 90% increase in sales, and the Central region dropped a hefty 10%.