FEATURE HOUSE PRICES
During the pandemic, house prices rose an unprecedented 40 per cent in two years to a national median peak of $925,000 in November 2021. By April this year they had fallen 16 per cent to $775,000, down a whopping $150,000.
This has hurt buyers and sellers, but CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says the market had to reverse at some time.
The question now is whether house prices have finished falling, even though forecasts are for a peak to trough decline of a little over 20 per cent.
ANZ Bank has already revised its 22 per cent fall projection down to 18 per cent, after April inflation data was better than expected. That means there is only around another 2 per cent to go, says Sharon Zollner, ANZ chief economist. “The market trough is near.”
“The exact bottom will never be known until it has passed,” says Jen Baird, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s chief executive.
Davidson says speculation
