More evidence of a housing market slowdown

Monday 8th October 2007

QV's latest house sales data support the view the residential property market is slowing. Its latest numbers show the first fall in property values since January.

There are further signs that the property market is starting to ease and that prices may begin falling soon.

Last week Barfoot and Thompson's monthly Auckland sales stats showed a significant slowdown in the residential property market. Today QV has released its September statistics which also show a slowdown, albeit smaller than Barfoots.

QV says that property values, in the year to September were 13.2% compared to 13.3% in the 12-month period to August.

"We may be seeing the first signs that the rate of increase in property values is flattening," said QV spokesperson Blue Hancock. "Residential sales volumes have been easing for several months and that trend can only continue for so long before it starts to impact prices".

"2007 has seen the value of New Zealand properties increase at a higher and higher rate, but our September figures show a marginal drop. Although it�s only a very minor slowdown, this is the first time since January 2007 that our statistics have shown the rate of growth in values to be slowing," Hancock says.

Of the main urban centres, Wellington property values grew 14.1% (down from 14.5% reported last month) and Christchurch dropped from 14.1% to 13.1%. Auckland City held steady at 12.1% (12% last month) and Hamilton and Dunedin increased to 14.4% and 10.4%, respectively.

In the provincial centres, growth in property values in Invercargill increased marginally to 34.6% with Gisborne easing from 25.3% last month to 21.8% this month. Taupo slowed to 3.1%, Palmerston North to 13.7%, Nelson to 13.1%, and growth in Queenstown property values slowed from 11.6% to 10.8%.

The average sale price for New Zealand residential properties increased to $404,089.

Compare rental and house price statistics online today at www.Landlords.co.nz.

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