Auckland's largest real estate agency recorded what it described as an "unprecedented" level of sales activity in March.
Barfoot & Thompson sold 1597 homes last month, the highest number it has ever sold in a single month, while the average selling price hit a new all time high $776,729.
However the median selling price of $711,000, although well up on February's median of $686,500 was still slightly below the all time high of $720,000 set in December last year.
"March is always the most active month for property sales but there has never been a month's trading to compare with the past month", Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said.
"It has set a string of new records.
"The average sales price increased by 3.9% on that for February, pushing the average price to an all time high of $776,729.
"It is more than $17,000 higher than the previous record price set in December last year.
"A quarter of all homes sold in the month were for in excess of $1 million." These represented 43% of the value of all sales in the month.
There were 420 homes sold for more than $1 million, compared to 253 homes that sold for more than $1 million in March last year.
The company sold 300 homes for less than $500,000, which was just 18.8% of sales.
So million dollar-plus sales now make up a bigger percentage of Barfoot's total sales than homes selling for less than $500,000.
Thompson said buyers were not being put off by the high prices and in the last two weeks of March the company was selling more than 400 homes a week, which was the highest two week trading period in the company's history.
"Buyers remain convinced that with a stable economy, low interest rates and restricted housing availability, that buying at current prices in manageable," he said.
The high prices were encouraging more home owners to put their homes on the market and Barfoots signed up 1997 new listings in March, the highest number for 17 months and at the end of last month the agency had 3347 properties for sale on its books, the highest number for 10 months.
"While sales activity in April is unlikely to match that for March, given the relatively good level of choice available, trading can be expected to remain relatively active," Thompson said.
Barfoot Auckland
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