House prices rise by 15pc

Wanganui East Photo/File

Wanganui house prices enjoyed a significant surge last month, bucking the national trend.

Median house prices in the district in September rose by 15 per cent from August, with one real estate manager saying it was the best month for sales for some time.

Wanganui's median house sale hit $175,000 in September - a $22,500 increase from August and $4000 up from September last year, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's (REINZ) latest figures. The national median house price was steady from August.

Wanganui residential sales volumes rose 22 per cent compared to August, and Property Brokers branch manager Philip Kubiak said September had been one of the best months in the past year-and- a-half.

There were good value sales across the city and high value lifestyle sales in surrounding areas, he said.

The positive buzz around property was due to good value properties available in Wanganui compared to other centres, Mr Kubiak said.

Post-election, people were confident to buy and new ways of bank lending had also improved the market.

He expected Wanganui house sales would continue to be good in the lead-up to Christmas.

REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said nationally activity in the last 10 days of the month hadn't been enough to offset the election time slowdown and sales volumes were down from last year.

"This may in part be a lag effect from the election. As with sales activity, listing interest is reported as having picked up in the last week of the September."