House prices creep up a little more

The momentum driving the housing market in the last few months showed signs of ebbing, according to the latest crop of statistics.

Monday, December 14th 2009, 11:58AM 2 Comments

by The Landlord

The Real Estate Institute's figures show although pricing remained strong in November, sales volumes eased and the number of days it took to sell a house crept up slightly

The national median house price was $355,000 in November, unchanged from October, according to the institute. The volume of sales edged down 0.6% to 6,056 having jumped from just 4,279 sold in November 2008.

"The residential property sales market has remained steady and I believe it will firm even further as the economy recovers," said REINZ president Peter McDonald.

The median price is now 5.2% higher than in November 2008 and investors say the resurgent property market probably helped convince Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard to last week bring forward the timing of increases in the official cash rate. In the latest monetary policy statement he said hikes to the official cash rate could begin in mid-2010.

The national median days to sell rose to 33 in November from 31 in the previous month, REINZ said. Days to sell were 44 in November 2008. Median values have climbed in nine out of 12 districts compared to November 2008.

Find out what's been happening in your area here

« Will Ha have the last laugh?Free Investment Property Showcase Events: Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch »

Special Offers

Comments from our readers

On 14 December 2009 at 1:53 pm Paul said:
Is the headline supposed to read "all-time high" rather than "10-year high"? I wouldn't have thought prices were higher 10 years ago than they are now...unless we are talking in real terms, which still seems improbable.
On 14 December 2009 at 3:21 pm Tim said:
10 yr high? What does that mean? It implies that house prices were higher just over 10 years ago, which has to be nonsense. We had an all time high in 2007, followed by a drop over 2008. Have we reached the 2007 level again yet? Or are you trying to say that house prices have fallen to 10-year ago levels?
Commenting is closed

www.GoodReturns.co.nz

© Copyright 1997-2024 Tarawera Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved