3 Feb 2011

Auckland house prices steady

12:49 pm on 3 February 2011

Auckland property prices held firm last month while turnover remained modest.

The city's largest real estate firm, Barfoot and Thompson, says the average sale price reached $516,000 in January, up more than 2% on the same month last year, but 2.5% less than the 2010 average.

The firm sold 563 properties during the month, 39 more than in December, but twenty fewer than in January last year.

While housing turnover remained low, the rental market is active. The average weekly rent reached $416, which was $5 more more than in December, and $15 more than in January last year.

Goldman Sachs economist Philip Borkin says that, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the Auckland housing market appears to be stabilising, but is far from racing away.