by Jenny Ruth
Annual growth in house prices nationally in the year ended May was 13.5%, up from 12.5% in April and 12.1% in March.
"Even though sales volumes have been down over late summer and early autumn, the prices buyers are paying for residential properties have continued to increase across most areas of the country", says QV's Blue Hancock.
The average national house price stood at $298,448 compared with $296,175 in April.
But there were enormous variations across the country with the average price in Opotiki soaring 68.4%, Stratford's jumping 55.3% and Otorohanga's up 43.2% while the average price in Nelson sank 2% and Tasman's dropping 0.9%.
"As reported previously, the provincial centres that were initially slow to follow the cycle upward have been showing good growth in property values, and at higher levels than the major cities," Hancock says.
In the two largest cities, house price inflation was modest. The average Auckland price was up 5.8% on a year earlier while Wellington's was up 8.2%.
But price growth in the next three largest cities was strong with Dunedin's average price up 22.9%, Hamilton's up 21.2% and Christchurch's up 18.5%.
Hancock continues to expect some slowing in the housing market over winter but qualifies this expectation: "the current range of competitive fixed term interest rates may keep the market active for a while yet," he says.
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