House prices hit fresh highs but signs of

Nagel said the market hit a new high in April, with the average house in New Zealand worth $913,000 at the end of the month, compared with $884,447 a month earlier. But there were signs the Government’s policy changes were beginning to have an impact, Nagel said.

‘‘We are hearing a range of anecdotal evidence of investors disappearing from auction rooms and even a decrease in first-home buyer presence,’’ Nagel said.

‘‘While fewer properties may be selling under the hammer, the majority are still being sold at prices that are at least as strong as before the tax announcements were made at the end of March.’’

The average value increased 8.9 per cent nationally over the three-month period to the end of April, he said.

That was a bigger leap than the 7.8 per cent price jump in the three months to the end of March.

Nagel said QV’S data indicated the average house price in New Zealand was $913,209 at the end of April, up by 21.4 per cent at the end of April compared with the same time last year.

The average annual household after-tax disposable income was $85,853 at the end of June, according to Statistics NZ.

The $1.3m record high for the average Auckland house masked some suburbs that had broken through the $1.5m mark for average prices, QV’S data showed.

Auckland’s central leafy suburbs hit an average price of just over $1.5m, more than 17 times the average after-tax income of the average New Zealand household.

The average house price on Auckland’s North Shore fell just short of that at $1.48m.

Houses in the far-flung west of Auckland burst through the $1m mark for the first time, with the average Waita¯ kere house valued at $1.05m at the end of April.

The average house in Tauranga and the Wellington district was just short of $1m.

Nagel said some regions were