Property values hold steady in April

Photo / Herald on Sunday

Property values are holding steady after a period of decline, led by a flattening of values in the Auckland market.

Latest figures from Quotable Value show values are now 1.9 per cent lower than the same time last year, and 5.8 per cent below the market peak of late 2007.

QV.co.nz research director Jonno Ingerson said while the April figures were largely driven by the Auckland market where values are just 0.5 per cent below the same time last year, there were signs the trend was filtering through to other areas of the market.

Elsewhere, values in Hamilton are 3.5 per cent below the same time last year, though were starting to flattening off, in Tauranga values are 1.7 per cent below last year, while in the Wellington and Dunedin markets, values also appeared to be steady, after a period of decline.

In Christchurch valuers were seeing plenty of interest from prospective buyers for quality properties in relatively unaffected areas, and prices there were generally holding, Ingerson said.

However there was still a great deal of uncertainty in the market, driven largely by concerns over job security, he said.

"There has been a significant slowdown is sales activity in Christchurch since the February earthquake, and this lack of sales means that we have not generated an index for Christchurch," he said.

Market sentiment remained patchy with some areas short of quality listings, while in other areas there appeared to be little buyer demand, despite plenty of inventory.

"General properties with desirable attributes, or those that represent good value, are still selling well," said Ingerson.

"There was an increase in sales activity in March and the first half of April, but this appears to have dropped away following the Easter and school holiday break. Sales activity typically tends to slow from now through until spring," he added.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE