Napier house values rise

While the property boom is petering out with two sets of data showing generally falling prices and flagging buyer confidence in October, Napier bucked the trend with rising house values.
Quotable Value figures released today show higher interest rates and cautious buyers are behind a slowing property market for the second consecutive month.
But the figures also show Napier's property value growth jumped from 4.9 per cent in September to 7.2 per cent in October.
QV Valuations spokesperson Blue Hancock said Napier was still well behind national trends and was playing catch up. The average house sale price in Napier was $339,461, down about $9000 on September.
Mr Hancock said the the rise in value but drop in average prices was an "interesting statistic" and could indicate a lot of activity at the lower end of the market.
"There might be a lot of first-home buyers and people returning to the market buying lower-priced houses."
Investors may also be active, he said.
Hastings was more in line with national movement, dropping from 8.5 per cent property value growth in September to 6.1 per cent last month. However the average Hastings house sale price was $307,907, up from $295,143 in September.
Not many houses were sold in Central Hawke's Bay in October, but figures based on the limited information available also showed a decrease in property value growth, from 7.8 per cent in September to 6.5 per cent in October. The average house price was $196,106.
In Wairoa there were too few sales to report a Property Value Growth percentage or the data for this period was unavailable.
On Friday, the Real Estate Institute reported a big fall in the annual rate of growth in prices and fewer house sales. Institute president Murray Cleland said it was down to 8.02 per cent for the year to October, compared with 12.3 per cent to September.
Most banking economists predict a soft landing for the sector and prices flattening, rather than plummeting. BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said a survey of 27 real estate professionals found overwhelmingly pessimistic sentiments.
When asked about the market outlook, only six respondents were positive. Nineteen were negative and two were neutral. One Auckland agency said sales volumes were the lowest for seven years.
Auckland-based property analyst Kieran Trass said yesterday that the property market had entered a slump.
"We have had the boom. It lasted a very long time and was a very good boom. But all good things must come to an end." Mr Trass said momentum was building into the turning market and while there might be a bit of a comeback early next year, conditions would soften again next winter.
Growth in property values fell to 12.7 per cent in the year to October, according to Quotable Value.
That is down from September's 13.3 per cent and August's 13.2 per cent.
All the main cities reported easing growth in property values, with the exception of Hamilton, where annual growth increased to 15.8 per cent from 14.4 per cent in September.
In Auckland City, growth dipped to 11.9 per cent in the year to October (12.1 per cent last month), Wellington growth dropped to 13.7 per cent (14.1 per cent), Christchurch dropped to 12.3 per cent (13.1 per cent) and Dunedin dropped to 9.4 per cent (10.4 per cent).
The national average for house sales increased slightly to $406,176.
Quotable Value spokesman Blue Hancock said higher interest rates and flagging buyer confidence were now reflected in a general slowdown in market activity and a shift from a sellers' market to a buyers' market. NZH