The average house price in New Zealand fell from the record high of $352,000 achieved in November to $345,000 in December 2007.
REINZ National President Mr. Murray Cleland commented:
“A number of factors are currently impacting on the housing market including the increased cost of home finance following rising interest rates and slowing immigration.
“Despite some commentators’ predictions, there is no discernable erosion of property values. While successive interest rate increases have impacted on the number of properties sold; prices remain steady. This suggests the market may have reached a peak and is now levelling off after a very strong performance over the last seven years. Over that period the national median selling price has more than doubled from $170,000 in December 2000 to $345,000 at the end of 2007.”
- House prices are 4.5 percent higher than a year ago, when New Zealand’s median house price was $330,000.
- Sales of properties fell from 8,245 in December 2006 to 5,597 in December 2007. This was the lowest number of sales in December for seven years.
- The average number of days to sell a house was 36, compared with 29 in December 2006.
Compared with prices in November, seven out of New Zealand’s twelve regions reported price rises in December and five reported falls.
On an annual basis, ten of the twelve regions saw an increase in prices.
Annual NZ House Price Changes
| Region | Median Price December 2007 |
Change since December 2006 |
| Northland | $335,500 | up 8.9 % |
| Auckland Region | $460,000 | up 8.9 % |
| Waikato / Bay of Plenty / Gisborne | $330,000 | up 10.0 % |
| Hawke’s Bay | $273,267 | up 7.2 % |
| Manawatu / Wanganui | $244,000 | up 13.5 % |
| Taranaki | $275,000 | down 3.7 % |
| Wellington Region | $370,000 | up 1.4 % |
| Nelson / Marlborough | $338,000 | up 5.6 % |
| Canterbury / Westland | $315,000 | up 8.6 % |
| Central Otago Lakes | $419,000 | down 0.8 % |
| Otago | $250,050 | up 9.2 % |
| Southland | $191,000 | up 27.3 % |
| New Zealand | $345,000 | up 4.5 % |