New Zealand’s house price bust rolls on, with CoreLogic recording a further 1.5% decline over September with all six major regions falling:
Universal price falls.
On a quarterly basis, dwelling values nationally plunged 4.1% with all six major regions falling:
North to south price falls.
The average value of New Zealand dwellings plunged from $1,043,261 in March to $977,158 in September, a fall of $66,103 (6%) in only a six-month period.
Commenting on the result, CoreLogic New Zealand’s Head of Research Nick Goodall said the 4.1% quarterly decline in dwelling values was one of the largest falls on record since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
Goodall also expects house prices to continue falling, noting “as interest rates have increased, and credit is harder to attain, the housing market is firmly in retreat”.
The price headwinds were exacerbated on Wednesday when the Reserve Bank hiked the official cash rate another 0.5% to 3.5%. This, according to Goodall means “downwards pressure on house prices is likely to continue”.
Barfoot & Thompson’s sales figures in September were also bearish, with sales volumes the lowest they have been in any September month since 2008. The agency’s median selling price also continued to fall, dropping to $1,064,000 in September, down by $47,000 (4.2%) compared to August’s median of $1,111,000.
Barfoot’s median selling price has now fallen $176,000 from its November 2021 peak when it hit $1,240,000. That is a hefty decline from peak of 14.2%.
