Regional increase in property sales
Parts of the country are suffering sharp house price falls of more than 10 per cent, new statistics show.
The Real Estate Institute has released its latest data, for January.
It reveals the number of properties sold across the country was up 2.7 per cent compared to January 2017.
But compared to December, national house prices dropped 5.5 per cent to a median $520,000.
The median price across the Waikato region rose 10 per cent compared to January 2017.
Prices rose 26 per cent in Waikato and 21 per cent in Taupo, but decreased 9 per cent in South Waikato.
Compared to December the median price decreased 6 per cent with strong increases in Waikato and Waitomo (22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively), with a large decrease in South Waikato (-32 per cent)
On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices decreased 2 per cent compared to December indicating that the median price decreased a little more than what is typically expected moving from December to January.
In the Matamata-Piako District, the median price was $395,000 in January, compared to $421,000 in December 2017 and $410,000 in January 2017.
There were 20 properties sold in the district in January, 47 in December and 31 in January 2017.
In the Waipa District, the median price was $555,000 in January, $555,000 in December and $575,000 in January 2017.
There were 58 properties sold in Waipa during January, 62 in December and 41 in January 2017.
In Hamilton city, the media price was $500,000 for January, $565,000 for December and $495,000 for January 2017.
A total of 156 properties were sold in January, 269 in December and 141 in January 2017.
On an annual basis, national house price growth was 7.1 per cent.
Otago and Hawke’s Bay had record median prices.
The median number of days it took a property to sell was 46 nationally, five days longer than the same month last year.
Nationally, this is the highest number of median days to sell recorded since February 2012.
The biggest increases were on the West Coast, where the time to sell increased by 87 days to 158, Taranaki, up 16 days to 56 and Gisborne, up 13 days to 43.
The only region with a decrease in the number of days to sell year-on-year was Northland – down three days to 45.
Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said the increase in turnover in January was positive.
‘‘January can often be a quiet month for the industry as people spend much of their time at the beach or the bach. However, clearly the warmer weather has helped sales, as it’s the first time we’ve seen a positive year-on-year sales increase in seven months.’’