House prices increase

The average price of a home sold in Rodney during October was $379,969, an increase of 6 percent on the average price in the same month last year.

Rodney areas with the greatest activity in the month were Red Beach and Snells Beach.

"The prices achieved in this area during October were excellent," Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson says.

"Not only were prices up significantly on last year but turnover was also nearly three times as high as in October last year.

"The combination of attractive interest rates and growing confidence that the worst of the economic news may be behind us created an environment where people made the decision to act on their housing plans.

"The uplift in prices was felt right across the Auckland region.

"In this area the average priced jumped by more than $21,000 on prices being achieved a year ago."

Harcourts latest figures show the good volume of written sales in October was not matched by the traditional upsurge in new listings normally seen in spring.

This has ensured that there remains a strong level of competition from buyers, says Harcourts New Zealand chief executive officer Bryan Thomson.

- © Fairfax NZ News