Auckland sales soar in February but price growth muted

"It was an active month for sales, with 764 homes being sold, but this demand did not translate into major price increases," said managing director Peter Thompson.

"At $536,069 the average price for the month was up 1.2% on that for January, and up 2.7% for that in February last year. Prices are edging up, but only at a modest rate."

Thompson said the most noticeable change occurred in the $1 million-plus segment of the market, with Barfoot & Thompson selling 41 homes in excess of $1 million compared to 29 in February 2011.

"And this followed on the sale in January of 40 $1million homes, nearly double the number for the previous January. You have to go back to the peak selling year of 2007 to find more $1 million homes sold in the first two months of the year."