Bumper house sales in city

First-home buyers in Rotorua are trying to get a foot on the property ladder before Reserve Bank lending restrictions kick in, a local agent says.

New house sale figures released on Monday by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand show July produced a bumper month of sales in Rotorua and across New Zealand.

Rotorua sales rose to 88, up from 66 in June. However, the median price across the region fell by $22,800 to $254,700.

The Government has just unveiled changes to the KiwiSaver and Welcome Home schemes designed to help more Kiwis into homes.

But Ray White Rotorua co-owner Anita Martelli said she knew of several first-home buyers trying to finalise sales now before new lending restrictions were introduced that would require buyers to raise bigger deposits.

"I know there's several we've got in the pipeline that are definitely trying to get [sales] through."

Mrs Martelli said the changes would definitely have an impact on Rotorua first-home buyers. "It will make it harder for them."

REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said it was the most active winter the national residential real estate market had seen for a while, with the volume of sales higher than would normally be expected for this time of year.

"Reports from agents around the country suggest that first-home buyers are moving quickly to secure properties ahead of any move by the Reserve Bank to impose lending restrictions on buyers with lower deposits."

Nationwide there were 6777 house sales in July, a six-year high for that month. The national median price fell $9000 - 2.3 per cent - compared with June to $385,000. It is now $15,000 below the record median set in March.

The figures were released in the wake of Prime Minister John Key's weekend announcement of changes to the KiwiSaver first-home deposit subsidy and Welcome Home underwriting mortgage scheme.

More people will be eligible to use the KiwiSaver subsidy and the price-cap of a house for which the subsidies can be used has been increased.

Income eligibility limits for both schemes will change, with a threshold income of $80,000 for a single person buying a house and $120,000 combined for two or more buyers.

While this sees an increased income limit for couples, single buyers face a drop of several thousand dollars, meaning fewer will be eligible.