NZ house values up 2.7%, Sydney prices fall 14%

While Sydney house prices slide further to a 14 per cent two-year low, New Zealand's values holding up and only marginally decreasing in Auckland.

Quotable Value today released its house price index showing a 2.7 per cent annual national house value rise, although Auckland values fell 1.5 per cent but CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall said it was important to remember how different the two markets are.

"Apartments in Australia have seen significant construction growth but that hasn't happened here, not to the same level. In Auckland, we've been building many more houses than apartments although we've only just started to see more consents for apartments outstrip houses.

"But in Sydney and Melbourne they've been building more apartments than houses for a long time," he said.

That was a major factor in the slump across the Tasman and Goodall said he did not expect a Sydney-style house price drop here. Instead, the market would "continue to be relatively even in terms of value changes - flat or marginally down throughout this year."

Sydney prices now down by nearly 14 per cent from their peak. CoreLogic said prices had fallen 13.9 per cent since their peak in July 2017 and Melbourne prices 10.7 per cent since its peak a few months later in November 2017. The national prices fall is now 7.4 per cent.

QV said Hamilton and Tauranga values rose 5.1 per cent annually, Wellington 8.2 per cent, Dunedin 13 per cent, and Christchurch 1.3 per cent.

"The weakness witness across Auckland's property market has continued to weigh down the headline results," QV's commentary said today.