KEY POINTS:
Property values are continuing to rise, with new figures showing the average sale price in the Auckland region rose almost $9000 in the last month.
Quotable Value statistics released last night showed an average 10.6 per cent rise nationally in property values over the last year.
It was
the first time since September the organisation recorded more than 10 per cent growth.
Values in the Auckland region grew more slowly than the national average at 8.2 per cent over the year. However, between March and April the average sale price in the region grew by $8770, the figures showed.
Hamilton was up 11.4 per cent in the year, Wellington City was up 13.4 per cent and Christchurch was up 11.8 per cent.
QV spokesman Blue Hancock credited low unemployment and stronger than expected migration with the continued rise.
He said the Reserve Bank rises in the official cash rate - which tend to lead to higher mortgage interest rates and slow property booms - had yet to make a mark on the statistics.
But Mr Hancock said the "anecdotal feel" was the market was starting to take note.
Coupled with real estate's traditionally slow winter season, he expected growth to start to slow this month.
"Predictions are that the market will cool off as we get into winter and the couple of hikes in the cash rate start to filter through," Mr Hancock said. "All the indications are that it's going to be a soft landing."
He said some pockets of the market could take a backwards step.
Mr Hancock said one of the "pockets of uncertainty" might arise around the East Tamaki area in south Auckland, where 350 jobs are being axed as Fisher & Paykel moves some of its manufacturing offshore.
"The market in that particular area might just take a bit of a hit for a while because there's low employment and people are having to get out."
QV calculates the change in property values by comparing the price over the latest three months with a year earlier.
In the Auckland region, Rodney property values rose 12.1 per cent in the year to $497,495.
On the North Shore, values were up 9.2 per cent to $543,472, in Waitakere property values were up 9.1 per cent for the year to $391,931, Auckland City's rose 6.6 per cent to $563,100, Manukau's rose 10.1 per cent to $407,478, Papakura rose 10.1 per cent to $328,862 and Franklin grew 12.4 per cent to $366,426.
Glenda Whitehead of QV Valuations said there was strong demand in the areas of Mt Wellington, Ellerslie, Pt England and Glen Innes and the eastern bays.
Demand in West Auckland continued to come from owner-occupiers and investors, while activity in investor areas such as Otara, Manurewa and Mangere had slowed.