Tauranga house prices continue to climb

The Tauranga housing market continues its uphill climb, with the average house in Tauranga now worth $651,725.

According to a report of the latest QV statistics released today, Tauranga city rose by 27 per cent compared to the same time last year, with the average house price rising 5.9 per cent in the last three months.

However the new Loan to Value Ratio is said to be slowing down the rapid growth across the New Zealand, but pushing investors to more affordable markets such as the Western Bay, according to QV national spokesperson Andrea Rush.

"Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton home values are continuing to rise, just at a slightly slower pace than they were prior to the new LVR measures being introduced in late July," she said.

Nationwide, residential property values went up 12.7 per cent from the past year to $622,309 , which was the slowest increase rate since May 2016.

"Less established investors appear to be having difficulty raising finance with the new 40 per cent deposit requirement, while recent CoreLogic Buyer Classification Data shows that 34 per cent of investors with five or more properties do not need to raise a mortgage so are not affected by the new LVR rules."

She said those investors seem to be looking towards places such as the Western Bay of Plenty, which continues to have "very strong value growth".

QV home value Tauranga registered Valuer David Hume said the Bay of Plenty housing market had seemed to improve after a slow period heading into Spring, after the new LVR restrictions were announced and a long patch of bad weather.

"The frenzy that was being witnessed earlier in the year has subsided to more normal levels of activity, and demand with properties going to a two to three way multi-offer scenarios as opposed to a six to seven offers."