Traditional spring market true to form

The latest Harcourts MarketWatch showed nationwide, the company wrote 44% more sales in September than the same month last year, with a 90% increase in the Northern region.

Exclusive listings were healthily improved throughout the nation compared to a year earlier, bar Christchurch, which showed a 17% drop in new listings, despite solid sales for the month. The Central region saw the highest rate of new listings for September, up 22%.

Although sales dropped towards the end of the month, likely due to the shocking weather than affected much of the country, Harcourts is expecting strong sales to continue throughout the Christmas season.

"As our statistics show there has been an increase in new listings, with auctions and tenders continuing to be heavily utilised by sellers keen to maximise the potential result, while according to anecdotal evidence from around the group there is ongoing strong demand from a wide range of buyers which bodes well for the next few months," Harcourts CEO Bryan Thompson says.