Housing market ‘finely balanced’
Christchurch’s median house price has reached $459,100 as the city’s housing market continues on a steady path.
In its latest sales figures, the Real Estate Institute reported the city’s median price in April was 2.6 per cent higher than in April last year.
For the Canterbury region, the median price of $447,000 was up 2.9 per cent in a year.
Institute regional director Jim Davis said the Canterbury market was well balanced between buyers and sellers.
‘‘This stability has been a feature of the market for the past several months and there is no indications of this changing.’’
There was an increased number of homes for sale and some buyers had lowered their price expectations, he said.
Homes sold in a median of 34 days.
Nationally, the median home price was $540,000. Prices set records in Waikato, Wellington and Otago.
The highest median prices were in Queenstown ($960,000) and Auckland (854,500).
The total value of homes sold in New Zealand in April was $3.85 billion, bringing the total value of sales for the past year to almost $53.5b.
Meanwhile, rents in Christchurch are going down as the number of new homes being built after the earthquakes appears to be slowing.
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Nicky Wagner yesterday released the first data snapshot in a series aimed to track the city’s regeneration.
It showed the average weekly rent had dropped from $400 in April 2016 to $386 in April this year, while Statistics NZ data showed there were 1048 building consents for new homes in the March quarter, down 12.3 per cent on the same quarter last year.