Record house prices for third consecutive month
House prices in the Waikato region hit a new record median of
$730,000 in April, the third consecutive month of record prices.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s snapshot of the housing market for April revealed the median price was up
37.7 per cent on the year earlier, with sales up 498.3 per cent.
REINZ Waikato regional director Neville Falconer said the April data was the most recent on the housing market since the Government announced a raft of measures in March to try and dampen the market – and that he was unsurprised it failed to cool price rises. ‘‘The fundamental issues still remain,’’ Falconer said.
‘‘The supply chain, provision of properties, provision of land, local authority policies.’’
Falconer said the continuing upward trend of median prices ‘‘is starting to have an impact on first home buyers who are becoming increasingly priced out of the market’’.
‘‘However, inquiry levels are still high and properties are selling at the fastest rate for an April month since 2005,’’ he said.
‘‘High sales volumes combined with low levels of new listings coming to the market have resulted in the Waikato region experiencing a fall in inventory, down 32.8 per cent annually, with just five weeks of property available to prospective purchasers.’’
The REINZ data revealed four
Waikato regions also hit new record median prices in April.
Hauraki District saw the biggest year-on-year jump, up 58.4 per cent from $385,000 to $610,000.
Waipa District recorded a yearly rise of 45.8 per cent, from
$590,000 to $860,000, while the median price in Taupo¯ District climbed 34.6 per cent from
$520,000 to $700,000.
The Thames-Coromandel district saw median prices jump
24.3 per cent from $764,000 to
$950,000.
Of the ten districts included in the Waikato data, eight saw double-digit, year-on-year median price rises.
Nationwide, the REINZ data also found the highest number of April sales for five years with
7218 properties changing hands. The nationwide median price was up 19.1 per cent year-on-year to $810,000.