Property market starts spring early - REINZ

The New Zealand residential property market started spring early with a sooner-than-expected burst of activity in August, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand residential real estate figures.

Monday, September 19th 2005, 11:30AM

The figures show a record national median selling price of $290,000 for August compared with the July 2005 median of $280,000 and the August 2004 median of $248,000.

“It is interesting to note that the New Zealand August 2005 median is 70.6% above the $170,000 median in August 2000, showing ample justification for residential property being highly rated as an investment and savings mechanism for families,” said the REINZ president Howard Morley.

The jump in sales, from 8213 in July to 8537 in August, confirmed the market’s confidence was returning especially since sales are well up on those of a year ago at 8143 in August 2004.

Strong demand for higher-priced properties, with almost static sales in properties under $400,000, was a feature of the month’s trading, said Morley.

The year-on-year percentage growth in the median also moved ahead, reaching 16.93% compared with a figure of 12.45% last month.

Morley said that the analysis of sales by price band showed that sales under $400,000 were relatively flat at 6363 in August 2005, compared with 6312 in July, and were in fact down on the August 2004 figure of 6537.

However sales of houses in the $400,000 to $599,999 category were up from 1311 in July to 1506 while sales from $600,000 to $999,999 were also up from 464 in July to 520 in August. Sales of $1 million and over properties climbed from 127 to 148.

“The market has certainly maintained its confidence judging by these figures, especially since they are a considerable improvement on a year ago which, in retrospect, was probably something of a trough for the market.

“Now the election is over it’s hard not to see that confidence continuing and a national median of $300,000 being achieved sooner rather than later.”

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