CoreLogic has released its house price results for August, which showed that the correction has accelerated, with values nationally declining by 1.8% over the month (double the prior month’s fall) to be down 3.5% over the quarter:
As shown above, price falls are broad-based, with values across every major city falling over the month and quarter. Values have also fallen across nearly every smaller market:
CoreLogic’s NZ Head of Research, Nick Goodall, noted that “more expensive credit continued to impact increasingly weary buyers with the property market downturn firmly entrenched and evident across the entire country”. He added that “consumer sentiment can be a key influence on the market and with the evidence of market downturn clear in every corner of the country, the already-smaller pool of would-be buyers, due to tighter, more expensive credit, are happy to bide their time in the falling market”.
Goodall also expects the weakness to continue, noting that “the borrowing environment remains tough” with “stretched affordability off the back of increasing interest rates”.
