Property boom in Northland

April property sales were up by 97 on 2014.

Northland properties are being snapped up fast - with almost 100 more sales last month than in April 2014.

According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), 240 properties were sold in Northland in April - 32 more than in March and 97 more than in April 2014.

The median price of a Northland property of $346,750 was up more than $20,000 on March and also slightly above April 2014.

Trade Me property data also showed positive growth in the Northland region, with an 8.2 per cent increase in average asking prices year-on-year.

Maggie Dixon Real Estate managing director Graham Lester said properties were spending less time on the market.

"We're selling a number of houses above the asking price because demand is there," he said. "When something comes on the market that is priced right, it is sold in days, rather than weeks or months.

"Getting stock is the next issue. We were in a buyers' market most of last year, now we're in a sellers' market, which puts pressure on prices as stock is harder to come by."

The increase in median price was due to a lack of lower priced properties available, he said.

"[Lower priced properties] are selling very quickly so that will be pushing the median price up a bit, even though the prices might not have risen as much as the median seems to indicate."

Mr Lester did not think changes to loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions in Auckland would have much affect on Northland.

This week, the Reserve Bank announced that new LVR limits would be introduced on lending to require borrowers in the Auckland City area to have a deposit of at least 30 per cent from October 1.

"If Auckland LVR [limits] had happened earlier, I would have thought it would push a lot of investors this way," Mr Lester said. "But investors from Auckland are already coming to Northland and other provincial areas because the returns they're getting in Auckland are so low.

"It's good for Whangarei. Hopefully we don't get in a bubble situation where we get ridiculously fast increases in price [but] I don't think we will because we don't have the jobs available to support a big increase in population."

The national median price was $455,000 for April - a decrease on March but a $22,750 increase on April 2014.

The number of sales was down on March but up on April 2014.

REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said the property market was growing in much of the country.

"Auckland continues to dominate the real estate market in terms of price movements, but we are starting to see some of the smaller regions show improvements in the number of sales being made and price increases," she said.

"Regions such as Northland, Hawke's Bay and Central Otago Lakes, which represent 7.5 per cent 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."