Numbers up, but don't get too excited just yet

Harcourts' September MarketWatch showed there were around 47% more written sales last month than in August last year with a total of 2,030 written sales, making it the second highest amount since November 2007.

The largest increase was in the Northern region, where the volume of written sales was a huge 78% ahead of the same month last year. In addition, the average sales price was 11% up on August last year, at $514,000.

The Central region also showed an impressive gain in written sales, with a 66% increase compared to August last year. Wellington saw a 40% increase in sales, while Christchurch showed a 55% gain in sales.

The South Island Provincial region was the only region to see sales decrease from last year, down 2%.