REINZ - house prices to February 2005
 

Residential Property Market Achieves Record Median for February.

17 Mar 2005

The New Zealand residential property market appeared to shrug off any apprehensions during February with a significant recovery in sales volumes and a new record national median selling price, according to the National President of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (Inc), Mr Howard Morley.

The national median selling price increased from $265,000 in January to $269,200 in February, defying widespread predictions of a downturn in the residential property market.

Sales were up significantly from 7,078 to 10,231 — itself a record sales level for any February. Days to sell followed suit, down from 38 days in January (affected however by the Christmas break) to 31 in February.

According to Mr Morley “the market has rallied to a surprising degree after giving the appearance of increasing caution in January, with good median price increases around the country.

“The current interest rates rises, arising from the Reserve Bank's decision to increase the Official Cash Rate, occurred after the February sales period and it will be interesting to see what prices and volumes do in March. However, as we have noted before, the interest rate rises tend not to affect those who have negotiated fixed term mortgages such as new home buyers entering the market.”

Of the 11 regions, seven reported increased median selling prices while four were down slightly.

Northland's median increased from $210,000 in January to $219,000 in February, while Auckland showed a strong recovery in median selling prices up from $340,000 in January to $355,000 in February. Auckland prices had fallen in January from the December median of $350,000. Auckland also reported a very strong recovery in sales volumes, up from 2,228 in January to 3,326 in February, close to the February 2004 figure of 3,427.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne median was up from $243,000 to $245,000 while Hawkes Bay paused for a breather, after previous strong increases, with the median down from $245,050 to $242,500. Manawatu/Wanganui saw a strong surge with the median up from $140,000 to $155,500 in February, but Taranaki eased back from the record figure of $195,000 in January to $193,000.

The Wellington median saw a small increase from $275,000 to $276,750 while Nelson/Marlborough enjoyed another strong month with its regional median up from $269,000 to $275,000.

Canterbury/Westland was another region to experience a reduced median, down from $235,000 in January to $231,000, and Otago slipped similarly after previously very strong growth from $205,000 in January to $204,000 in February. Southland's median was up from $139,000 to $141,000.

On a national basis the latest median is up 16.53 per cent on February 2004's national median of $231,000. The four leading regions are now Taranaki, up 31.74 per cent, HawkesBay, up 31.08 per cent, Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne, up 27.27 per cent, and Manawatu/Wanganui, up 22.44 per cent.

The major centres have exhibited lower growth with Auckland up 14.29 per cent and Wellington up 8.52 per cent.

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Have a look at the graphs for your area - link here http://www.reinz.co.nz/marketfacts/index.htm