KEY POINTS:
For a Reserve Bank anxiously watching the housing market for signs of a slowdown, the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute contain mixed messages.
House prices are accelerating and the number of days it takes to sell a property remains low.
But the number of sales is declining and the days-to-sell measure is at least not getting any worse.
REINZ said the national median house price rose to $350,000 last month from $349,000 in April.
On an annual basis the pace of house price inflation has picked up, to 14.8 per cent in May from 14.4 per cent in April.
Acceleration is also evident on a rolling average measure: 14.3 per cent for the three months ended May, up from 13.9 per cent for the three months ended April. But when adjusted for seasonal effects the number of properties sold (8465) was down 3.7 per cent on May last year.
That is a dramatic slowdown from late last year and early this year when turnover was running 18 and 19 per cent ahead of a year earlier.
"The price growth figures probably haven't wound up the Reserve Bank's inflation concerns further, given that sales turnover is showing signs of declining," said ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley.
"We do temper the significance of that slowing, however, given that the median days to sell remain low - not the sign of a market that is collapsing by any means."
REINZ said the median number of days to sell a property was 30 last month, up from 28 in April.
But when economists seasonally adjust the number it was 28 days, near historic lows and unchanged from April or March.
ANZ National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie said seasonally adjusted house sales rose 1.2 per cent in May, which partially reversed the declining trend over the previous four months.
"The fact that house sales have come off their peak is not likely to be a result of wavering demand but rather a lack of supply that is therefore putting upward pressure on prices," he said.
"It is perhaps too early to expect strong evidence of a turn in the housing market in response to higher interest rates delivered in March and April.
"The real test for the housing market is likely to emerge around July when the full impact of the massive surge in fixed lending rates to 9 per cent manifests itself."
