Bay of Plenty house prices continue to soar

Bay of Plenty median house prices continue to rise, according to the latest figures released from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand today. Photo/file

Bay of Plenty median house prices continue to rise, according to the latest figures released from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand today.

The Reinz figures show median house prices in March increased 7.1 per cent compared to the same month last year.

The average price for a home in the Bay is now $580,000.

The Bay joins several other regions around New Zealand to experience an increase, including Gisborne (17.9 per cent), Hawke's Bay (11.7 per cent) and Wellington (10 per cent) which each achieved record prices of $330,000, $445,000 and $583,000 respectively.

Reinz chief executive Bindi Norwell said "March was a very strong month from a price perspective with record prices achieved for New Zealand ... Looking at the whole country, median house prices increased in 13 out of 16 regions – the only regions not to experience an increase were Northland, Auckland and Taranaki.

"This is the third month in a row now that the Hawke's Bay has seen a record median price for the region. This increase has been driven by a high level of demand across the region which is driving prices up particularly in the Nelson Park Ward in Napier (+27.7 per cent), Ruataniwha Ward in Central Hawke's Bay (+25.8 per cent) and Heretaunga Ward in Hastings (+24.7 per cent)," she said.

"As New Zealand's second largest city, Wellington continues to shine as an attractive place to live with much of the growth being driven by areas outside Wellington's CBD including South Wairarapa's Martinborough Ward (+57.4 per cent), Porirua's Eastern Ward (+48.0 per cent), Carterton District Ward (+27.3 per cent) and Upper Hutt City Ward (+25.6 per cent)."