The national median house price reached yet another record in April, although activity slowed.
The median house price rose $3,000 from March to $203,000 which was $14,000, or 7.4%, higher than in April last year, according to Real Estate Institute figures.
But the number of houses sold fell from March’s 10,747 record to 9,047 worth $2.3 billion in April. That was also down from the 9,224 houses sold in April 2002, but well above the 6,506 sold in April 2001.
"The easing in sales volume is largely due to external factors, such as the impact of Easter and ANZAC Day, but in addition to this our members have reported a nationwide shortage of listings, particularly in relation to the extremely high level of enquiry from potential home buyers," says institute president Graeme Woodley.
Bearing this out, the median number of days it takes to sell a house fell from 36 days in April 2002 to 29 days in April this year.
Prices rose in six of the 11 regions compared with March, most notably in Auckland where the median price rose from $279,500 in March to $290,000.
Among the five regions where the median price fell from was Nelson/Marlborough, down from $210,000 to $198,000, Northland, down from $168,000 to $150,000, and Canterbury/Westland, down from $158,000 to $155,000. Woodley says he suspects these falls are temporary and reflect the short trading month.
Compared with April last year, prices were up in all but two regions, Northland and Manawatu/Wanganui.
"Overall, the market appears very solid and clearly there is a lot of capital flowing into residential property, both from occupiers and investors," Woodley says.
Darren Gibbs, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, also attribute’s the declines in activity in April to the "Easter" factor – it fell partly in March last year but was all in April this year.
"The housing market remains a significant source of strength for the New Zealand economy at a time when a number of external factors are acting to push growth below trend," Gibbs says.
"Further reductions in interest rates and robust migrant inflows are expected to ensure the housing market undergoes only a modest slowdown in activity over the coming year," he says.
He is predicting the Reserve Bank will cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 5% in June and by a further 25 points in July.
