The Government's upcoming Budget announcements are thought to be causing uncertainty and "static" residential property values in the Otago real estate market.
QV Valuations (Dunedin) valuer Tim Gibson said property values in Dunedin increased by 7.5% during the past year, based on calculations during the three months ending April 2010 compared to the corresponding period last year.
The figure was up slightly on the 7.3% annual growth reported in March.
However, the average sale price in Dunedin decreased from $282,897 to $275,142 during the past year, he said.
"These latest statistics confirm that values in Dunedin's residential property market have remained fairly static since December (2009).
"This static growth is probably caused in part by market uncertainty prior to the Government Budget announcement later in May."
Mr Gibson said uncertainty was not only influencing investors, because the volume of family house purchases appeared to be down as well.
"This could have the effect of stock taking longer to sell due to less active buyers in the market place at present."
Mr Gibson said there was some evidence the top end of Dunedin's market was holding up, with nine sales occurring in the $700,000-plus bracket for the month of April.
"This included one residential sale of over $2 million.
"This has been the highest volume of sales occurring in this bracket for some time," he said.
Within Dunedin City, the Taieri area had been the most buoyant, with annual growth of 10.2% to April, up from 7.3% to March.
Other areas within Dunedin have experienced a decrease in their annual change, with southern Dunedin easing the most since March.
Across New Zealand, property values are 6.1% above the corresponding time last year and 3.9% below the market peak of late 2007.
Values across the Auckland area are 9.5% up on the corresponding period last year, Wellington 7.1% up and Christchurch 6.9% up.
