Residential property turnover dropped to the lowest level since 2010 in July, Auckland real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson reported.

There were 747 sales in the month, the quietest July in seven years.

The agency listed 1173 new properties, also the lowest number since 2010 and 25 per cent fewer than June. By the end of the month it had 4088 available listings, 36 per cent higher when compared to July last year and down 5 per cent from June.

Peter Thompson, the managing director of the company, said winter was traditionally a slow time in the market.

"It can be hard to make even the best attributes of your home shine when the weather is miserable; that alongside school holidays and the uncertainty an election always brings, has led to some vendors holding off putting their home on the market," he said.

"Without question it will take some time for both buyers and vendors to navigate the changing market. Opportunities for vendors to sell are still plentiful, however sellers need to be willing to set themselves realistic expectations and listen to what the market is telling them.

"Vendors are less likely to see quick sales and significantly above average price increases, in the short term at least. However, this is still a good time to buy and sell in Auckland, given what are relatively small market movements.

"In this type of market, people are motivated by the more fundamental reasons to move house such as a growing family, change of job or downsizing. This could be seen as a return to house sales being influenced by those more traditional factors."

The agency recorded an average sale price of $908,319 across Auckland for the month. That was up 5 per cent on July 2016 and down 0.6 per cent from June.

Sales under $750,000 were a third of all transactions in the month. Sales over $1 million made up 35 per cent of the market.

Forty-one homes sold for more than $2 million.

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said the fact the number of listings on the market was down month-on-month could be an early sign of market weakness stabilising.

"But there's no real demand. That's obvious in terms of the drop-off in buyer activity and investors have played a very big part there."

But he said Auckland still had strong levels of underlying demand due to a lack of construction and strong migration. "That undersupply is only getting worse. I think that buyers are going to have to come back into the market at some stage."