Inventory at lowest level in seven years

“In July we sold 998 homes for an average sales price of $591,444,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“For a July, this number of sales was at the very top end of the scale in recent years. At the end of the month it left us with only 3975 properties on our books, the lowest number since late 2005."

But he said it wasn't a case of people not listing their properties for sale.

“The low number of properties for sale is being caused by high turnover, not by the low number of people listing properties for sale.

“In July we listed 1295 properties, 23.3% more than in the same month last year. However, demand in July was exceptionally strong and we sold 28.3% more homes in July than in the same month last year."

The number of homes on Barfoot and Thompson's books had fallen for each of the past five months, he said.

“It has created a market in which people are prepared to act decisively.

“Prices are increasing, but they are not spiralling up. What is out of the ordinary is the number of properties being sold for this time of the year, and the speed at which they are being sold.

“In July the average sales price edged up by a little more than $2000 over that for June. In the past three months the price difference between the May and July average price is modest at $9000, or a movement of less than 2%.”

Sales of properties in the $1 million-plus category continued to feature, with 82 properties selling in this price range in July compared to 50 in July last year.

Mr Thompson said that while high-value properties attracted most attention, about half of all the sales of properties in Auckland were for less than $500,000.

“In July we sold 498 properties for less than $500,000, which is up 8.7% on those for June.”