Our take on the latest Real estate statistics (Fri 13 Sept 2019)
NZ house price growth at 2.9%pa
House sales down 6.1% from August 2018
Auckland house prices down 1.5%pa
The key numbers...
- New Zealand’s house price inflation rose to 2.9%pa in August, up from 1.5% in July.
- Auckland house prices increased 1.2% from July (seasonally adjusted), but are still down 1.5% from a year ago. This rate of decline has eased since April, when prices were falling at a rate of 4.3%pa.
- House prices outside Auckland grew at 6.8%pa, with prices in Southland (up 15%), Manawatū-Whanganui (up 14%), and Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne (up 13%) rising the fastest.
- Sales volumes slipped 6.1% from August last year, as Auckland’s sales fell 4.1% while the rest of New Zealand’s sales dropped 6.9%.
REINZ House Price Index
Annual % changes
...and our reaction
- An unusually low number of sales in August was partly driven by the low number of listings in recent months.
- House prices across the country jumped 1.1% from July (seasonally adjusted), the strongest result in six months, indicating that the dip in sales was driven by a lack of supply rather than further weakness in demand.
- Buyer demand in Auckland might have been rekindled a little by previous declines in house prices combined with record low mortgage rates.
- Although this result is in line with our expectations of a temporary rebound in the housing market next year, we are cautious about reading too much into one month’s data. High house prices, both in Auckland and around the rest of the country, will still be too much to swallow for many.
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