Auckland house prices rise in July as new listings jump, Barfoot says

Aug. 5 (BusinessDesk) - Auckland house prices rose for a third month in July as listings and sales jumped, according to Barfoot & Thompson, the city’s biggest realtor.

The average sale price rose 0.7 percent to $654,379 last month, adding to a 0.8 percent gain in June, the firm said. The median price fell to $585,000 from $590,000.

A shortage of new homes in New Zealand’s biggest city has spurred the government to introduce legislation that would fast-track developments and create special housing areas, while at the same time, the central bank is finalising measures to curb high loan-to-value mortgage lending because of the risks a heated housing market poses to the stability of the financial system.

Barfoot said new listings jumped 37 percent last month. It sold 1,133 homes in July, up almost 7 percent from June and up 13.5 percent from July 2012.

At the end of last month, the real estate firm had 2,837 properties on its books, which was 29 percent lower than in the same month last year and an all-time low for available listings.

(BusinessDesk)

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