Where prices are falling the fastest

House prices are tumbling nationwide, with the average national price down 2.2% over the three months to the end of April, new Quotable Values (QV) figures show.

That fall followed a 0.6% quarterly decrease last month, and left the national average at $1.04 million. It was still up by 14% on March last year, but the annual increase rate was down from 18.3% last month.

All but five of the 16 areas monitored by QV had quarterly price declines, with Palmerston North recording the biggest at 5.4% which left its average price at $733,791 in April.

Wellington was next in line with a fall of 3.6% which took its average to $1.05m, while Dunedin and Hastings each had a 3.4% drop to averages of $698,673 and $897,507 respectively.

In Auckland, prices fell 3.1% over the quarter to an average of $1.49m. The region’s annual increase rate dropped to 14.2% from 18.6% in March.

Christchurch was one of the areas where prices did not drop. It had an increase of 0.9%, which put its average price at $801,614.

Whangarei, Marlborough, Queenstown Lakes and Invercargill also all had quarterly price increases. Their prices were up 1.5%, 3.4%, 3.2% and 1.1% respectively.

Queenstown was the only area to have a month-on-month price increase.

It now has the most expensive average price in the country, at $1.64m.

Despite the quarterly falls, prices were still up on an annual basis across all regions.

The Canterbury region had the highest annual rate of increase, at 28.4%, while Wellington had the lowest at 7.1%.

QV general manager David Nagel said it was no surprise that the largest declines occurred in locations that experienced the strongest growth over the past couple of years.

Those markets were the first to become overheated and that made them more susceptible to a value correction as rising interest rates, tightening credit and affordability concerns started to kick in, he said.

‘‘Falling attendances at open homes and declining auction clearance rates have been well publicised, and demonstrates a swing in the balance of power between vendors and purchasers.

‘‘A big part of the three-month value reductions occurred in late March and April, so we expect a gradual escalation of price declines in the coming months as vendors wanting to sell their properties are forced to meet the market.’’