House sales fall while prices continue to rise

Locals buying a house in 2017 will be set back by, on average, $77,500 more than if they had bought in Rotorua five years ago.

A five year trend of Real Estate Insitute of New Zealand median house prices show in June 2013 a house hunter was paying on average $277,500 for a Rotorua property.

In June 2017 the median house price was sitting at $355,000, a nearly 28 per cent increase from 2013.

The majority of that increase was in the last 12 months, with prices increasing 24.6 per cent from $285,000 in June 2016 to $355,000 last month.

However, while prices continue to rise, the number of houses being sold has dropped dramatically.

Just 81 houses were sold in the city last month, a 54.7 per cent decrease in the number sold in June last year.

In the wider Bay of Plenty, the number of days to sell eased by three days, from 38 days in May to 41 days in June.

The number of days to sell eased by six days compared to June 2016.

Over the past 10 years the average number of days to sell during June for the wider Bay of Plenty region has been 59 days.