YOUR HOUSE
Real.estate.co.nz data has shown house prices in all areas across the country rose above $500,000 for the first time. CoreLogic and Barfoot & Thompson’s figures reveal house prices flat-lining, leading both to predict the market is on the way to recovery, although sales and listings are still sluggish.
REINZ says median house prices have increased monthly but declined on an annual basis.
Some of the country’s major banks’ economists have a rosy view of the market and are predicting sizeable rises next year. ANZ expects house prices to rise 4 per cent by the end of the year before moderating next year, while Westpac is predicting an 8 per cent rise next year; Kiwibank says 6 per cent.
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr says spring will be the true litmus test for housing. “We’re expecting the buoyancy to continue, because the surge in migration is providing additional demand to an already tight market.”
The 100,000 additional migrants will need “at least” 40,000 houses … “houses that haven’t been built”.
And those houses might not materialise quickly as the building boom is about to end. The latest Stats NZ building consent
