Big jump in median price

The country’s median house price jumped $118,300 in 12 months to hit

$730,300, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand says.

Median prices were down from December but held up better than they would normally during the summer holiday period, REINZ said.

Low interest rates and a lack of properties for sale have put the heat under the housing market since the

Covid-19 lockdown last year, which failed to make a lasting dent in prices.

Auckland’s median house price rose

14.9 per cent, compared with the overall

19.3 per cent increase, to $1 million. Among the record-breaking regions were Bay of Plenty (up 13.1 per cent from January 2020 to $769,000 last month), Hawke’s Bay (up 25.9 per cent to $692,500), Taranaki (up 23.8 per cent to $520,000), and Nelson (up 19.2 to

$712,500).

Concerns about even higher prices, and the fear of missing out, were prompting people to continue to look for a house during a traditionally slow time of year, REINZ said.

Across the country, residential property sales rose 3.2 per cent from a year earlier to 4957, the highest number for a January in five years. In Auckland, sales last month were up 37.6 per cent on a year earlier at 1870, the highest in January for 14 years.