Following recent reports of frenzied house-buying in Dunedin, the number of houses sold in November was flat, but house prices reflected buyer pressure, rising 13% in the city on a year ago.
Otago-wide, house sales were also flat, up from 321 a year ago to 326 but, again, median prices rose 9.7% to $278,000.
Conversely, in the separate Central Otago Lakes region, prices fell almost 10%, to $482,000, while volumes leapt 43%, from 121 homes sold a year ago to 173 sales, data released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) showed yesterday.
Queenstown recorded a 10% price dip, down from $606,000 to $545,000, but sales were up 22% from 59 a year ago, to 72.
Countrywide, sales numbers rose 8.5% to 8048 homes, and the national median was up only slightly at $459,500, worth a total $4.73billion compared with the corresponding time last year.
REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said Otago and Central Otago Lakes, plus Northland, Waikato-Bay of Plenty and Wellington, all experienced either strong sales volumes or price rises.
"Demand is being driven by low interest rates and the relaxation of the LVR [loan-to-value] rules for these regions,'' she said.
Dunedin has become a desirable destination for North Islanders seeking higher rental yields as new taxes and LVR banking regulations tighten in the heated Auckland market.
The median number of days any Dunedin property was on the market was just 23, down slightly from the previous month but there was anecdotal evidence many homes were under multiple offers, and some selling within days of going on the market.
In Dunedin, there were 236 sales in November, compared with 243 in November last year, while the median price was up 13% from $270,000 a year ago to $305,000 for the month.
The total value of sales was up 8.1%, from $76.2million a year ago to $82.4million.
REINZ Otago spokeswoman Liz Nidd said although the statistics did not show a significant month-on-month or year-on-year increase in the volume of sales, there was a huge amount of buyer activity.
"We are seldom taking just one offer on properties at the moment and we have had several situations where there have been as many as six or more offers taken on one property,'' she said.
Mrs Nidd said if more stock became available, it would likely prompt "a significant increase in turnover''.
She said yesterday's reduction in the Reserve Bank's official cash rate to match a record 2.5% low and the likely subsequent drop in mortgage interest rates, meant this market was likely to continue.
