Photo credit: Lanz

Auckland's housing supply hit a seven-year low last month, according to one agent.

Indeed, the transactions were so high that they reduced the Number of homes in the area for sale to the lowest level since 2005. Indeed, the number of homes on the agent's books at the end of each month has fallen for five months in a row, causing buyers to become more decisive.

"The low number of Properties for sale is being caused by high turnover, not by the number of people listing properties for sale," adds Thompson. "In July we listed 1295 properties, 23.3% more than in the same month last year. However, demand in July was exceptionally strong and we sold 28.3% more homes in July than in the same month last year."

The average price of homes sold in July was $591,444, but while prices are on the up, they not spiralling up.

""In July the average sales price edged up by a little more than $2000 over that for June. In the past three months the price difference between the May and July average price is modest at $9000, or a movement of less than 2%," explains Thompson. "What is out of the ordinary is the number of properties being sold for this time of the year, and the speed at which they are being sold".

The increase in sales is evident at both ends of the market. Transactions for properties worth over $1 million increased from 50 in July 2011 to 82 this year. At the same time, while high value properties attracted attention, half of the sales of properties in Auckland were for homes worth less than $500,000.

"In July we sold 498 properties for less than $500,000," adds Thompson, "which is up 8.7% on those for June."