Gentrack turnaround lands power biller in NZX20. Video / Herald NOW
The median house price in New Zealand is continuing to drop, according to just-released figures for May, and it’s taking longer for houses to sell.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (Reinz) issued its Monthly Property Report today, showing the median national house price had fallen 0.9% over theyear.
That puts the median national price at $763,000 in May.
And on a month-to-month basis to May, national median prices dropped 2.2%.
The House Price Index (HPI), meanwhile – which Reinz calls “a more accurate measure of housing activity and trends over time” – showed a year-on-year increase of 0.1% and a month-on-month decrease of 0.6% from April.
And while the number of properties sold jumped by 8.9% month-to-month and the number of listings rose by 2.9%, the median number of days to sell them has increased.
The median national house price in May is $763,000. Photo / Michael Craig
The median number of days it is taking to sell houses is 47, increasing by three days since last May.
Focusing on Auckland only, houses were taking a median of 46 days to sell, unchanged since last year. And the median price in Auckland specifically dropped 3.5% over the year.
That puts the median house price in Auckland at $975,000 in May.
Were public holidays in May to blame? Economists react
Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the report showed “signs of improving momentum in the New Zealand housing market in April didn’t carry through”.
Gordon pointed to a lower HPI increase in May, at 0.1%, compared with April’s 0.4%.
“It’s possible that public holidays had a lingering impact on the May figures, given that fewer-than-usual properties were brought to market in April,” he said.
“We’ve seen in the past that when Easter Monday and Anzac Day fall in the same week, this tends to be treated as an extended holiday period.
“That aside, though, we continue to see a modest response to the ongoing fall in fixed-term mortgage rates. Buyer interest is clearly running high, with mortgage applications still far above last year’s levels.”
Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon says the report shows "signs of improving momentum in the New Zealand housing market in April didn’t carry through".
“But with a sizeable stock of unsold homes on the market, there has been limited upward pressure on prices to date.”
ANZ senior economist Matthew Galt said a lid was being kept on house price growth by new listings and high inventories.
“Plenty of willing sellers have come forward recently and new listings and inventories remain high, keeping a lid on house price growth,” Galt said in a statement.
“Our forecast is that house prices will accelerate over the second half of the year in response to lower interest rates, to a monthly pace closer to 0.5% m/m [month on month]. However, with high-frequency economic activity indicators soft of late, and housing market indicators still going sideways for the most part, the risks are tilted towards slower house price inflation than this.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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