Barfoot & Thompson's average and median selling prices plummeted in July, but sales volumes jumped back up from the disastrous levels of June.
The real estate agency, which is the biggest by far in Auckland, sold 902 residential properties in July, up from 681 (+32%) in June, and almost as many as the 916 it sold in May.
That was the most properties sold by the agency in July since 2021 when it sold 1235.
However the median and average selling properties both dropped significantly.
The average selling price was $1,127,639, down $108,697 (-8.8%) compared to June. The median selling price dropped back below $1 million to $970,000, down by $50,000 (-4.9%) compared to June.
That's the first time that the median selling price has been below $1 million since February.
There were particularly big declines in the percentage of sales at the top end of the market, with the percent of sales above $2 million declining from 22.5% in June to 14.6% in July.
There is probably a cause and effect between the sharp drop in selling prices and the rise in sales, which follows on from the latest figures from Realestate.co.nz suggesting vendors are dropping their asking prices to meet the market.
However Barfoot's latest figures suggest the market still faces significant challenges, with the agency receiving 1518 new listings in July, up very slightly from 1506 in June.
The combination of higher sales and flat listings pushed the total stock on the agency's books down to 5446 at the end of July, the lowest it has been since February.
However stock levels remain elevated, and the 5546 properties Barfoot's had on its books at the end of July was the highest for the month of July since 2010.
"Buyers were attracted by a combination of vendors being prepared to meet the market and anticipation that prices may be at their low point given recent movement in mortgage interest rates," Barfoot & Thompson director Stephen Thompson said.
"Those vendors who were prepared to listen to their salesperson and who were prepared to meet the market, saw results," he said.
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