House prices stall in September

New Zealand house prices stalled in September, with no change to the national median of $290,000, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) figures out today show.

Sales were healthy, however, with 9186 houses sold by institute members during the month, compared with 8537 in August -- indicating there is still strong confidence in the market, despite economists' predictions of an impending slow down.

House prices were 16 per cent higher than in September 2004.

"A combination of strong sales, especially when compared with September 2004 and the drop in days to sell suggest a much stronger and more liquid market in September," REINZ national vice president Murray Cleland said.

The median number of days to sell a house improved to 27 from 29.

Mr Cleland said the main reason for the unchanged median, despite rising sales, appeared to be a shift to more sales under $400,000. These accounted for the bulk of September sales at 6834.

Of the 12 regions surveyed, seven produced price rises and five declined during the month.

Among the main centres, the Auckland region, previously a little subdued, rose to a median house price of $379,000 from $375,000 in August. Auckland City prices fell to $408,000 from $410,000.

The greater Wellington region took a breather with the median easing to $296,500 from $308,100. Wellington City prices dipped sharply to $382,500 from $443,000.

Canterbury/Westland prices eased to $259,000 from $260,000. Christchurch City's median was flat at $275,000.

The median price in Otago jumped to $220,000 from $193,000, while in Dunedin metro prices rose to $237,000 from $210,000.

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard last week delivered a tough-talking speech on the impact of New Zealanders' seemingly insatiable appetite for housing on inflation.

He is widely-expected to attempt to counter that demand with a 25 percentage point hike in the official interest rate to a record 7 per cent at the central bank's next meeting on October 27.

- NZPA