Asking prices for houses nationally have breached an average of more than $500,000 for the first time - with the Central Otago Lakes district average 17.5% higher again, while the rest of Otago slumbers more than 40% below the national average.
Just a fortnight after the average Auckland asking prices passed $750,000 for the first time, national price expectations went beyond half a million dollars to $511,421 for February, data from Realestate.co.nz shows.
The Realestate data reaffirms the housing bubble and its associated prices remain the Reserve Bank's largest problem, and it is expected to try and curb the appetite later in the year, possibly using debt servicing limits, increasing banks' capital requirements or increasing existing loan to value restrictions (LVR) on the banks.
Separately, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data for January found median price gains in Auckland and the Central Otago Lakes area were the highest, respectively 16% and 11%, against the national median gain of 6% on January 2014.
Realestate.co.nz board director Bryan Thomson said key regions in New Zealand, such as Canterbury and Auckland, had continued to show robust growth in average asking prices, as well as a healthy number of new listings.
''In addition, the average asking price in Auckland continued to break records for the second consecutive month, reaching a new high of $764,424, a 1.9% increase on the $750,023 benchmark set in January,'' Mr Thomson said in a statement yesterday.
A year ago, the average asking price in Auckland was $677,370, indicating that asking prices across the city had grown by an average of 13%, or $87,000, during the past twelve months, he said.
Although the Central Otago Lakes region's 11.5% decline was the second largest of the 19 regions studied, at $619,952, its price was second highest, only to AucklandOf the 19 regions, only four had an average asking price in the lowest $200,000 $300,000 range.
Otago topped that list at $294,210, up 1.5%, West Coast up 6.6% to $281,809, Manawatu/Wanganui down 0.7% to $274,616 and Southland, down 8.9% to $242,784.
Average asking prices around the country
• Nationally up 2.6% to $511,421
• Auckland up 1.9%, to $764,424
• Wellington down 0.9% to $458,991
• Canterbury up 2% to $455,918
• Otago up 1.5% to $294,210
• Central Otago Lakes down 11.5% to $619,952
Source: Realestate.co.nz.
