New Zealand: September Property Values up 13.2%
Quotable Value has released September’s figures for New Zealand’s housing market. The average price of a house in New Zealand has risen to £150,779 ($404,089) from August’s £147,163 ($394,397). New Zealand’s average house prices are not directly comparable with the UK’s because, unlike the UK, the average home in New Zealand is a detached bungalow.
QV spokesperson Blue Hancock said:
“2007 has seen the value of NZ properties increase at a higher and higher rate, but our September figures show a marginal drop. Although it’s only a very minor slowdown, this is the first time since January 2007 that our statistics have shown the rate of growth in values to be slowing.”
House Prices in New Zealand
Three Months Ending September 2007
| Location | Average House Price (NZ$) | Average House Price (£) | Comments |
| Auckland Region | $512,964 | £191,404 | Property values in the Auckland region grew by 13.3% over the past year up from 13.1% reported last month. The Auckland region continued to see a trend of steady growth in property values. Annual growth rates in all the main urban centres were up slightly from last month with the exception of Rodney where growth eased to 14%. |
| Hamilton | $365,515 | £136,386 | Hamilton’s property values increased by 14.4% over the past year. Expectations are that sales activity will decline as the interest rate increases impact. However, the general feeling is that sale prices are likely to remain fairly static rather than decrease. |
| Wellington Region | $447,243 | £166,881 | Property values in the Wellington region increased by 16.3% over the past year. The time delay between a change in the market and the subsequent change in property values creates opportunity for sellers and risk for buyers. The Wellington market is not showing normal spring activity, with a lower volume of sales. |
| Christchurch | $364,357 | £135,954 | The Property values in Christchurch increased by 13.1% over the past year, down from 14.1% reported last month. The lower end of the market continues to have the largest volume of sales. First home buyers and investors are still active in the lower price brackets while the upper end of the market is more cautious. |
| Dunedin | $270,254 | £100,841 | Dunedin’s residential property values increased by 10.4% over the past year. Different patterns of increases in property values are seen across the city. The central/northern part of the city is growing at 6.7%, a slower rate than last month at 7.3%. While Taieri at 12.6% and the southern part of the city at 12% have rebounded somewhat. |
| Tauranga | $438,703 | £163,695 | Property values in Tauranga increased by 8.2% over the past year.The growth rate was higher to that reported last month (7%). |
* Assumed exchange rate is £1 = NZ$2.68
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