Prices continue to rise in property boom

1.20pm


There were few signs of the housing boom busting with the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's latest figures released today showing the median house price rose 3.5 per cent in November.

The rise for the year has been 20.5 per cent.

The national median price for residential property is now a record $235,000 against $227,000 in October.

It was Wellington and the regions which drove the median up, with Auckland showing signs of easing a little, although apartment sales may have affected the Auckland median, Reinz president Graeme Woodley said.

The Auckland region median fell from $325,770 in October to $320,000 in November.

Wellington prices continued their recent surge with a further increase from $257,000 to $262,000, while Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Nelson/Marlborough and Otago all recorded solid increases.

One sign of a cooling of the market was that total sales fell by 1.8 per cent from October, although sales for the November year are 9.2 per cent ahead of the year to November 2002.

Mr Woodley said the latest increase in the national median was before interest rate increases recently announced by three main banks.

The institute said it believed rate increases were unlikely to affect the market much. Instead immigration and a housing shortage in some areas were supporting prices, he said.

Many of the regions were 'playing catch-up' on the strong increases experienced by some of the larger centres, Mr Woodley said.

He described the Auckland situation as "interesting" because the median declined on an increase in monthly sales from 3666 in October to 3838 in November, and a number of the Auckland suburbs recorded increased medians, such as North Shore, Waitakere and Papakura.

But the medians for Auckland City and Manukau were down as was the metropolitan Auckland median.

"This suggests to us that the market in areas such as North Shore remains strong, but that the huge volume of apartment sales may be affecting the Auckland median price."

The North Shore median rose from $371,365 to $377,000 and Waitakere rose from $258,175 to $272,000.

Auckland City was down from $396,500 to $381,000 and Manukau was down from $321,000 to $280,000. Metropolitan Auckland declined from $337,000 to $328,000.

The Northland median declined from $185,000 to $176,500 while the Southland median fell from $133,500 to $115,990 -- a 13 per cent decline.

Nelson Marlborough continued its staggering run which has seen the median price soar 48.7 per cent in the year. Prices rose another 3.9 per cent in November to $261,000 and are now just $1000 below the Wellington median.

Consistent with its strong median increase, Nelson/Marlborough sales were up from 299 in October to 323, indicating the market there continues to be active, Mr Woodley said.

Wellington prices were up 1.9 per cent to $262,000 while Wellington Central was up from $335,000 to $343,000.

Otago prices lifted the most in November, up 6.5 per cent to $155,500.

Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne prices rose 1.6 per cent to $189,500; Manawatu/Wanganui prices rose 1.1 per cent to $118,000 and Taranaki prices rose 4.8 per cent to $140,500.

Canterbury/Westland prices rose 0.6 per cent to $180,000 although the Christchurch City median was down slightly from $205,225 to $200,100.

Over the year, Southland prices were up 37.5 per cent, Otago up 34.6 per cent, Hawkes Bay up 28.6 per cent, Taranaki up 22.2 per cent, Canterbury/Westland up 20 per cent, Wellington up 18 per cent and Auckland up 14.3 per cent.

- NZPA