Lie given to housing slowdown notions

The latest housing sales figures appear to put paid to any notion that the housing market may be cooling.

Tuesday, April 20th 2004, 11:27PM

by Jenny Ruth

The national median house price struck a new record at $240,500 in March as the number of houses sold that month leapt to 11,371 from 9,940 in February, the latest Real Estate Institute figures show. That compares with 10,747 houses sold in March last year.

The median house price compares with $231,000 in February and the previous record struck in November of $235,000 and with the $200,000 price in March last year. That makes the annual price increase a whopping 20.25% increase.

Other figures released on Monday showed the overall inflation rate in the year ended March was just 1.5%.

Real Estate Institute president Graeme Woodley says house price rises were across the board, although he noted that the rise in the median house price partly reflected demand for higher valued properties.

While total sales rose 14.4% in March from February, sales of houses for less than $400,000 were up 13.6% while sales of those worth more than $600,00 were up 20.1%.

"These latest figures will come as a surprise to quite a few people, particularly since the anecdotal information is that the market has been quieter," Woodley says. "These figures suggest that the market is again trading strongly."

A further indicator of a buoyant market was that the average number of days it took to sell a house fell from 29 in February to 27 in March.

The figures showed house prices in all 11 regions rose in March compared with March last year and that, compared with February, prices rose in all regions except Southland where the median price was steady at $120,000 and in Canterbury/Westland where it fell marginally from $200,000 to $198,000.

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