Residential property values continued to gradually decline in October and are now 5.5 per cent down from the market peak of late 2007, the latest QV Valuations report reveals.
The report did not provide a measure for Canterbury, saying too few sales had taken place since the magnitude 7.1 earthquake on
September 4 to generate a reliable index measure.
The property market in Canterbury was slowly beginning to recover, the report said.
It was taking longer for sales to go through because additional engineering reports were being required and there had been delays in securing LIM reports.
Melanie Swallow, of QV Valuations, said: "We have seen a small lift in property values across Christchurch city over October, but only in suburbs where there has been little or no earthquake damage.
"In such areas, agents report demand for quality housing, with some healthy sale prices being achieved."
Nationally, after the peak of late 2007, values dropped during 2008 to a low in early 2009, before rising again until early 2010, then beginning to decline again.
Over the last 12 months values first rose 2.8 per cent from October 2009 to March 2010, then fell back 1.6 per cent since March.
