New Zealand house prices continue to rise, driven primarily by high demand and short supply in Auckland and Canterbury, while Dunedin values remain static.
Residential values nationwide increased 8.4% during the past year, with a 2.6% rise over the past three months, according to data released by Quotable Value (QV) yesterday.
The Auckland market has increased 13.6% year-on-year and values were 21.3% above the previous peak, while Christchurch was up 10.8% on last year.
In Dunedin, property values had been static for the past 12 months and, as a result, only 1.8% above last year. Although there were a low number of listings [in Dunedin], there was generally good demand across the market, especially in the lower to middle price ranges, with many properties reportedly receiving multiple offers, QV valuer Duncan Jack said.
Provincial centres were still mostly experiencing growth, although generally no more than 2% to 3% over last year.
In the South Island, Kaikoura, Westland, Timaru and Mackenzie had all seen some strong increases over the past three months, with Westland the highest at 7.7%.
Southland, Gore and Invercargill were still struggling, with Gore recording the largest decrease at 3.3%.
QV research director Jonno Ingerson said the loan to value ratio (LVR) caps recently applied by the Reserve Bank were intended to help slow down the rapid increase in values by limiting loans to people with a low deposit.
That would take some time to fully impact on the market as the main banks had a large number of pre-approved loan applications in the pipeline. It was likely to cause a short-term flurry in activity as people rushed to secure a property before their pre-approval expired.
While the LVR caps might have an impact on first-home buyers with limited deposits, it was likely to have little impact on other buyers.
What remained to be seen was whether overall activity and price levels in the market were affected, particularly in areas with more affordable properties, Mr Ingerson said.
