Pressure on prices, Harcourts says

It has released its latest provisional residential data.

It showed that nationwide, October’s written sales were up 5% compared to August.  Stock levels were up 16% on the same time last year but the agency said that was still not keeping up with demand.

The average sale price for Auckland and Northland was $666,740, which is up 3% on 2013 but down from the $683,101 recorded in September. “Prices continue to trend upwards, despite the Reserve Bank’s LVR restrictions, as a growing population has the inevitable effect on prices,” Harcourts said.

Christchurch’s average selling price was $485,625 in October, down from $496,161 in September but up from $478,614 in October last year. The agency said: “Our sales consultants are reporting, while good results are regularly being achieved by vendors, there is a realism in the market, which is stopping buyers overcommitting themselves when competing for property.”

In Christchurch, there was a small dip in listings in October but year-to-date figures showed that overall there were 175 more listings, up 3% and an overall 18% increase in auctions.