House prices in the regions are growing faster than in Auckland according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).
Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Northland, Central Otago Lakes and Otago have all reached new median house prices while the national median price eased slightly to $500,000 from $506,000 last month - a one percent decrease.
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty region recorded its fifth record median sale price for this year, reaching $438,000. In Auckland the median price in Auckland hit $821,000, while the median price for a Northland property is now $360,000. In the South Island the median price reached $295,000 in Otago as the Central Otago Lakes region hit $730,050.
REINZ spokesperson Bryan Thomson says, "Although the onset of winter means that June is generally a quieter month for the real estate market, there has been no let-up in the rate of price increases across the country."
(REINZ)
The number of houses being sold by auction in Wellington has sky rocketed by 320 percent compared to June 2015. Auctions are also proving popular in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty area, where they're up 95 percent.
Across the rest of the country, auction sales are up by 117 percent with 1916 homes sold at auction in June.
Auction sales equate to 24 percent of sales at a national level, with a total of 7864 unconditional residential sales in June.
Nationally, sales have increased by six percent from the same time last year, but have dropped 13 percent on May sales - or three percent with a seasonal adjustment. This suggests sales were weaker than expected for this time of year.
The decline of sales in Auckland was marginally higher, down 14 percent in May - however seasonally adjusted, the decline matched the national average at three percent.
The Auckland median sales price rose slightly slower than the rest of the country at nine percent. However the median price remains high, up $66,000 to $821,000 on June 2015 prices.
"While Auckland continues to be the largest single region, its influence on the national picture is waning due to its own weaker sales and strong growth in sales in other regions, particularly Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Northland," says Mr Thompson.
In comparison to May this year, the median house price rose by $16,000 or two percent which equates to 2.9 percent when seasonally adjusted.
Outside of the main city the median house price rose 29 percent in outer Auckland, 27 percent in Rodney and 14 percent on the North Shore on last year's figures.
Figures are also up on last month's data with prices rising 14 percent in Outer Auckland, six percent in Rodney and four percent on the North Shore.
Mr Thompson says the Auckland market is now feeling the effects of the rest of the country.
"Auckland's peak share of national sales was 39.7 percent in January 2014, however, its share is now just over 33.8 percent," he said.
"Over the same period Waikato/Bay of Plenty's share of national sales has increased from 14.3 percent to 19 percent."
The number of properties available for sale across the country has continued to fall from June 2015 and June 2016.
The increase in house prices are partially being driven by a decrease in supply with a 40% drop in properties available year-on-year.
"The fact remains that the vast majority of the supply comes from the sale of existing properties. The inventory data continues to show rapid declines in the volume of properties available for sale right across the country, with a number of regions, such as Wellington and Hawke's Bay, recording very low levels of properties for sale," says Mr Thompson.
Wellington has the fewest properties for sale with just over seven weeks of supply, closely followed by Hawke's Bay with nine weeks' supply and Auckland with just under 10 weeks of supply.
However despite the lack of supply, the number of days it takes to sell a home has only improved by three days over the past 12 months - dropping from 34 days in June 2015 to 31 days this June.
Those figures are looking slightly more positive in the regions with nine regions seeing a decrease of 20 percent or more in the number of days to sell.
Auckland was the only region to see an increase in the number of days to sell over the past 12 months.
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