The heat has well and truly come out of the property market, with July sales volumes at their lowest levels in six years.
Last year real estate agents were trumpeting the property boom in Hamilton - as investors looked for new pastures outside of an over-priced Auckland.
But now Core Logic's Head of Research, Nick Goodall, says its popularity is waning.
"We've certainly seen a reduction in investors buying there. Value growth in Hamilton has meant that gross yield has reduced", he said.
Tauranga has also eased, something Mr Goodall says is due to tightening credit for buyers.
"Because of the LVR [loan-to-value ratio] restrictions, we've also seen a slight tick-up in interest rates, the banks themselves have tightened up their credit policy, so that's making it harder for people to get money as well," Mr Goodall says.
"The slowdown has been quite prolonged, more than we've previously seen."
Further south sales are also slowing.
"Now we're seeing that slowdown in Wellington and also Dunedin, where previously we hadn't seen them slow down as much as the other main centres," Mr Goodall says.
In Christchurch values are falling, particularly at the high end of the market.
Wellington real estate agent Craig Lowe says volumes are down but so, too, is buyer activity, in what he describes as a "solid market".
The upcoming election is also making buyers cautious.
"We're expecting to see an influx of stock potentially after the election is over," he says.
Core Logic also looks at consents for building and says the figures can be misleading.
"If you have to knock one building down to build two, that's a net change of just one," Mr Goodall says.
"In Auckland at the moment we've seen 10,000 consents in the last year for new properties, but the net change in stock is only 6000 - well short of the 13,500 we need to build each year," he says.
The Reserve Bank Governor on Wednesday said LVRs won't be lifted just yet because, with high debt-to-income ratios and demand for housing still strong, there's still a risk of a resurgence in the market.
Mr Goodall says it's likely prices will lift again next year, because the fundamentals of low housing supply and high demand, on the back of high net migration, are still strong.
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