Harcourts reports strong sales lift

A range of areas around New Zealand experienced an increase in sales activity.

Auckland and Northland saw a 23.4% increase in written sales on the same time last year. But other areas also picked up.

The central North island saw a 37% increase in the number of written sales, Christchurch was up 15% and the South Island 23%.

Harcourts chief executive Hayden Duncan said Wellington was the only main centre where there had been a slide in written sales activity.

From Auckland north, the average sale price for November 2012 was $563,378, 10.7% up on the same time last year. Harcourts said there was a lack of stock for buyers to choose from.

In the central North Island, the sale price was an average $360,450, up 19% on November 2011. The 37.2% increase in the number of written sales for the same period was indicative of last year’s slump rather than a boom this year, Harcourts said.

Wellington’s average price dropped slightly from November last year to last month, from $381,314 to $383,778.

Christchurch had an average price increase of 12%, from $386,716 last year to $434,351 this November. Harcourts said an influx of rebuild workers would put pressure on prices.

Provincial areas of the South Island showed a price drop over the year but Harcourts said prices were starting to rise as people moved out of Christchurch into the surrounding areas.