Decline in NZ’s median price – but not Auckland’s

Following a decrease of 4.2% ($20,000) from March, the national median house price is now $455,000, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data.

Tuesday, May 12th 2015, 4:27PM

by Miriam Bell

However, the national median price was still up 5.3% ($22,750) on April 2014.

Once the impact of the Auckland region is excluded, the national median price was up 0.9% ($3,000) from April 2014.

The Auckland region’s median price increased by 18% ($108,500) over the last year. It went from $611,500 in April 2014 to $720,000 in April 2015.

REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said Auckland continues to dominate the real estate market in terms of price movements.

“The strong price movements in Auckland, particularly on the North Shore and in Rodney, continue to be driven by high demand from all types of property buyers and from a lack of sufficient new supply – both new builds and listings of existing properties.”

She said that while new builds take time to be completed, the very low level of new listings suggests that potential vendors are considering factors besides just price in deciding whether to sell their properties.

“But vendor expectations are continuing to move higher across the Auckland region, with an increasing number of suburbs now seeing a median price above $1 million.”

Sales volume in the Auckland region actually fell by 25% compared to March, but this is considered to be in line with the seasonal trend at this time of the year.

Compared to April 2014, sales rose by 25% across the region with rises of 53% in Rodney and 44% in Outer Auckland.

Meanwhile, Milne said some of the smaller regions are showing improvements in the number of sales being made and price increases.

“Regions such as Northland, Hawkes Bay and Central Otago Lakes, which represent 7.5% of national sales, are seeing solid gains in both price and sales volumes.

“Other regions such as Waikato/Bay of Plenty are seeing volume growth, while Otago and Taranaki are seeing more price growth.”

The REINZ April data points to a further strengthening in the housing market, Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said.

“Sales rose 3.2% in seasonally adjusted terms, reaching their second-highest level in the current upturn. This is topped only by last year's post-election rebound in the housing market which peaked in December.”

Gordon said the stratified house price index was up 9.3% on a year ago, compared to 8.5% in March.

“It shows that prices in Auckland were up almost 19% on a year ago, whereas prices in Wellington and Christchurch were down slightly.”

« Auckland price rises: a lesson in supply & demand

Rise of Auckland house prices continues »

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