House price inflation moderated somewhat in October, breaking a growth trend shown since March, according to the latest Quotable Value figures.
Tuesday, November 15th 2005, 1:16AM
by The Landlord
Average annual growth in house prices nationally was up 14.5% in October compared with 14.9% in September but is still well up on the12.1% annual growth shown in March.
QV spokesman Blue Hancock says it's too early to tell whether the October figures indicate an impending market slowdown.
"To be more certain that the property market had entered a slowdown period we would need to see a consistent trend," he says.
"Regardless, we do expect at least a levelling of growth in the property market, given expected interest rate rises, falling investor returns and also a slowing population growth rate," Hancock says.
QV's figures are prepared on a three months rolling average basis.
Growth rates in most areas were below those reported for September, although prices in some areas continue to grow faster than 20% such as Whangarei, up 30.9%, Hamilton, up 27.1%, Gisborne, up 27.7% and Rotorua, up 25.7%.
"Most of the continued growth is still coming from areas where there is an availability of comparatively affordable residential property," Hancock says.
