This week's property round-up

A 12% increase in house sales reported last week lifted overall activity to its highest level since early July 2014 which is a welcome sign given the market has been on a general downward trend since that time.

However, activity remains below the same week last year when the highest level of house sales (691) was recorded across 2014.

Listings for sale continue to grow slowly, passing through the 13,000 mark whilst the latest look at average selling days for the three months to January has seen the December quarter figure of 57 days jump to 63 days.

This indicates some older stock is starting to move.

The increase in leasing activity is pushing rental listing stock down which has resulted in the vacancy rate for the three months to January coming down slightly to 4.1%.