House price inflation accelerates

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House price inflation accelerated yet again in September, continuing the trend shown since March, according to the latest Quotable Value figures.

Monday, October 10th 2005, 12:22AM

by Jenny Ruth

Average annual growth in house prices nationally was up 14.9% to $312,887 in September and has been accelerating steadily since the12.1% annual growth shown in March.

"Despite predictions that growth in the residential market may be about to level out, property values continue to edge upwards across the majority of main centres and regional areas of the country," says QV spokesperson Glenda Whitehead

QV's figures are prepared on a three months rolling average basis.

While annual growth in the most populous region, Auckland, was static at 8.3%, it was significantly greater in other urban areas with Hamilton's values up 27.6% compared with January's 15.9% annual growth, Dunedin's up23.2%, Christchurch's up 19.1% and Wellington's up 11.3%.

Another worrying sign is that former hot spots which had appeared to have cooled appreciably earlier this year now seem to be flaring up again. For example, house prices in Queenstown Lakes grew at an annual 16.5% pace in September compared with less than 2% earlier in the year.

Growth in another former hotspot, Nelson, remains subdued although also accelerating. The annual average price was up 2.5% in September compared with the 1.3% increase shown in Auckland. Earlier this year, Nelson prices were actually falling.

The largest annual increase shown in September was in Opotiki where average prices were up 63.8%.

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