Barfoot & Thompson sold 86 per cent more residential properties last month than in February in a pattern its boss says is a sign of a recovery.

The Northland, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga agencies sold 765 places last month, up on the 410 of February.

Managing director Peter Thompson said buyers were starting to return to the Auckland housing market, with sales reaching their highest number in 10 months and prices holding firm.

“March showed a modest but positive improvement in trading. Buyer confidence lifted,” he said.

The numbers are still well below last March, when the agency sold 1180 properties so this year’s transactions are well down.

Average prices are also down from last March’s $1.2 million to $1.1m last month.

The agency listed 1460 extra properties for sale last month, which was strong in comparison to the first two months of this year but not as strong as in previous years.

“The number of listings at month end at 4751 are in line with where they normally are at the end of March and means that those buyers who are prepared to make a commitment have a good range of properties from which to choose,” he said.

Agents sold 60 places for more than $2m last month and 11 places for $3m-plus.

“The pipeline of conditional sales we made in the month also increased significantly, indicating that there is likely to be a strong flow of sales going unconditional in April,” he said.

February had been almost the slowest month in a quarter century, as Aucklanders brace to pay $900/fortnight more on mortgages and mortgage defaults rise.

Yesterday, credit business Centrix found 1.29 per cent of mortgages, or 18,900, were recorded as late or past due in February.

This is up 23 per cent annually and could be attributed to people rolling off fixed home loans and being unable to service higher interest rates, it said.

Unsecured personal loan arrears had fallen back month-on-month to 8.9 per cent in February, but remain up annually as household cost pressures continue to rise.

On March 25, Barfoot & Thompson marked a century in business with a sit-down three-course black-tie dinner for 3800 people in Auckland in a marquee the size of three rugby fields at the Ellerslie Events Centre.

Thompson said 2800 staff and managers from the agency’s 80 outlets in Northland, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga attended.

The agency has its fourth generation of family members: Thompson’s daughter Paula, 26, is a sales agent in the Grey Lynn office and his nephew Matt Thompson, aged in his early 30s, is a relieving manager, Peter Thompson said last month. Garth Barfoot and daughter Kiri, who heads the property management division, also work there, as well as Stephen Barfoot.