FILE
January's median Rotorua house price was up on last year - but a local real estate expert says that does not mean house prices are up across the board.
According to data released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (Reinz), the median price for a property in Rotorua in January was $255,000 - a 10.9 per cent jump from January 2014 where it was recorded at $230,000.
But there was a drop in the number of houses sold in the area during the first month of this year. The data showed 51 houses were sold in January 2015, 5.6 per cent fewer than January 2014.
Meanwhile, sales volume recorded in January 2015 dropped in comparison to December 2014. There were 73 sales recorded in December. Median property prices remained the same.
Ian McDowell, principal at Professionals McDowell Real Estate, said January was normally a quiet month for property sales.
"Generally, January is quiet. We had a busy last quarter in 2014 with an increase in sales, but there is always that bit of a vacuum in January," he said. "There has been a lot of activity since then, so February is going to be a good month."
LJ Hooker Rotorua principal Stephen Pepper said the increase in the median house price did not necessarily mean house prices in Rotorua had gone up.
"The figures are a bit misleading. If you look at the median house price, it appears to have gone up but, in reality, all that is happening is that we are selling more properties at the higher end of the market," he said.
"That is dragging up the median sales price but that doesn't mean house prices have gone up.
"With Tauranga, we are starting to see prices getting healthier but it has taken a while and Rotorua is just getting to that.
"I don't think you are going to see prices go up that much, if anything at all, for quite a while. The Auckland market is having an effect on our market but there is still a long way to go."
Mr Pepper said the number of house-hunters looking to buy in Rotorua had increased.
"One of the things we have noticed is the amount of traffic through our open homes has increased. The traffic especially over the last weekend was noticeably higher than it has been for a while," he said.
Nationally, housing sales activity last month slowed right down compared with December 2014, dropping by almost a third.
Figures show 4841 dwellings were sold in the first month of the year - a 31.5 per cent drop on the previous month, but a 2.6 per cent increase on January 2014.
Reinz chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said the January slowdown was typical for this time of year.
"The data for January reflects the typical summer slowdown at this time of the year, with volumes dropping back and prices easing across the country.
"December was a strong month, so the slowdown in January was a little more pronounced than usual."