The REINZ has released its house price data for August, which revealed a 1.7% seasonally adjusted monthly rise in the national median house price, with prices up 7.6% year-on-year:
Outside Auckland, house prices rose by 2.9% in August, with prices up 10.5% year-on-year.
Looking at the major cities, Auckland’s seasonally adjusted median house price rose by 0.8% in Auckland but was down by 1.0% year-on-year. Christchurch’s (Canterbury) rose by 1.3% in August and was up just 0.3% year-on-year. Whereas Wellington’s median house price was flat in August but was up 8.3% year-on-year:
Sales volumes remain weak, down heavily across all major markets in year-on-year terms:
Finally, the decline in sales volumes by price point has been widespread:
Commenting on the results, REINZ chief executive, Bindi Norwell, again blamed the Reserve Bank’s loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions and access to finance as two of the main reasons for the slowdown in the market:
“Again, we’ve seen the number of properties sold across the country drop significantly. The drop in volume this month meant that, on average, 47 fewer properties were sold each day in August 2017 in comparison to August 2016 – that’s a big drop. Banks’ lending criteria and LVRs are still impacting first home buyers and investors”.
