KEY POINTS:
Auckland house prices have nearly doubled in the past nine years, leaping from a median $235,000 in 1998 to $452,000 last month.
Prices rose 92 per cent in the Auckland region from April 1998 to last month.
New Real Estate Institute figures yesterday showed Auckland was leading a national house price surge. And in just one month, prices rose by $9000. In March, the region's median house price was $443,000 but that swelled to $452,000 last month.
The country's median house price leaped from $343,5000 to $349,000, even though interest rates have risen sharply this year.
The institute said Auckland prices were up sharply despite the volume of sales falling. Agents sold 3446 Auckland properties in March but just 2559 in April, the institute said, citing Anzac Day and Easter as possible factors suppressing sales numbers.
It takes just 27 days on average to sell an Auckland property, just ahead of the national average of 28 days.
Murray Cleland, the institute's president, said the data from Auckland suggested too many people were chasing too few properties. He hoped today's Budget would help first-home buyers, hit hardest by surging prices.
About 10,000 people were migrating to New Zealand annually, he said, yet the Government's Welcome Home loan scheme to help those most in need of a deposit was limited to just 2000 first-home buyers. The assistance was insignificant and he expected more measures to ease affordability.
Metropolitan Auckland's median sale price rose from $449,000 in March to $459,000 last month. The North Shore's median sale price rose $20,000, from $520,000 to $540,000.
Waitakere's median price stayed static at $380,000, Manukau's rose from $415,000 to $425,000, Papakura's was up from $332,500 to $335,000, Rodney's rose from $450,000 to $459,000 and Franklin's was up from $356,500 to $358,000.
Prices were up in nine out of 11 areas, but fell marginally in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne region and in Otago. Northland prices rose from $306,000 to $320,000. Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne prices fell from $320,000 to $312,000. Taranaki prices were up from $260,500 to $275,000. Hawkes Bay prices rose from $268,000 to $280,000.
