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Auckland's housing market continued to strengthen in April, but a shortage of listings is becoming a concern, according to Barfoot & Thompson. New figures from Auckland's biggest real estate agency show fewer house listings for the Auckland market as winter approaches.
Demand for properties in April was the highest it had been for the month in the past decade, with 1070 sales.
New listings for the month at 1580 were in line with the past two years.
The average price increased to $804,282 in April, up 3.5 per cent from March.
The median price at $753,500 was up 6 per cent .
Barfoot & Thompson sold 314 properties during April for more than $1 million.
Barfoot & Thompson chief executive Wendy Alexander said there were 3151 listings by the end of April, which meant that May would see the lowest number of properties since January.
"Lack of choice is again becoming an issue," she said.
But it is a common trend as the cooler months arrive and nothing of great concern, she said.
"It's just weather and people tend to use winter months to burrow in and look to improving weather over spring. It's a real estate cycle. The strongest marketing areas tend to be through late summer and autumn; there's nothing alarming about that."
Alexander said the supply and demand issue this creates is simply "the reality of the Auckland market".
The real estate agency sold 157 homes under $500,000 during April, representing one in seven homes sold.
While hopeful first home owners may be limited by loan-to-value-ration (LVR) restrictions, Alexander said there were plenty of homes listed under $500,000.
The Reserve Bank imposed LVR rules mean first home buyers need a 20 per cent deposit to buy a home.
"Currently we have 101 three bedroom home listings across Auckland under $500,000. It may not be what you want and where you want it but they're there," she said.
Some of the cheaper properties were in central Auckland but a significant number were in the west and south.
Alexander said this was indicative of a normal housing market.
Auckland's average house prices cracked the $800,000 mark in April rising 14.6 per cent year on year and 4.3 per cent over the past three months, according to valuation service QV,
This helped to push the national average house value to $507,040.
The number of sales had also reached levels not seen since 2007.
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