The bad news is there's talk of rising prices for new builds on the back of new tougher health and safety regulations in the construction industry.
Prices push up
According to the Real Estate Institute this week, median house prices across Auckland are sitting at a record high of $820,000.
The institute says record median house prices have also been recorded in Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and Central Otago Lakes.
In Auckland, one in three properties sold are valued at more than $1 million.
The institute says the national median house price is now $495,000, and for the 12 months ended March the total value of residential sales across New Zealand was $55 billion.
The Institute's CEO Colleen Milne says: "March demonstrates a noticeable surge in sales of higher priced properties, with the number of sales over $1 million increasing by over 90 per cent compared to February."
The institute's data shows a robust real estate market across New Zealand, with Auckland having overcome the changes to tax and LVRs introduced last year.
Mortgage rates
Citing low inflation, economists at the ASB are unsurprisingly predicting more cuts to the official cash rate this year, and expect the Reserve Bank to take it down to 1.75 per cent.
When the OCR goes down, so too should loan rates.
However, it seems the banks are hedging their bets, waiting to see if the US Fed will raise its interest rates (which has a bearing on local rates).
Backed in to a corner at the end of last year the Fed increased rates by the smallest amount it could, just to save face.
Upart from this one change, the US has been kicking the rate hike can down the road for years.
It's time our local banks got off the fence and started offering much more competitive fixed-rate deals. One of them must be itching to offer a two-year deal at less than 4 per cent. There's certainly scope to do that -- it's just a case of who will blink first and start a mini mortgage war.
Pause for thought
BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander says Auckland's market has ended a pause and is now going up again "underpinned by a worsening shortage of property".
He says: "Regional markets are well underpinned by investor demand and that is propelling more construction which, in some smaller lifestyle-like centres, will eventually lead to excess supply.
"Falling interest rates will encourage more investors to seek property assets while having little impact on already outbid young buyers. A new wave of out-bidders is coming."
Queenstown
Queenstown is facing its own housing crisis with a new home and land package at the Bridesdale Farm subdivision being advertised for $755,000.
The subdivision is in a special housing area, and the 360sq m section offered has plans for a 124sq m home.
