AUCKLAND: New Zealand home prices remained largely unchanged in June, with current indicators suggesting conditions will likely remain broadly stable through the winter months, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) said on Wednesday.
Seasonally adjusted median house prices dipped 0.9 per cent from May, but were 0.7 per cent higher than a year earlier, REINZ data showed. National home sales fell 1.7 per cent from May and were down almost 7.0 per cent on the year.
“The market continues to show signs of becoming more settled, but there is no single national story,” said REINZ Chief Executive Lizzy Ryley.
“The New Zealand housing market has become a series of local markets moving at different speeds.”
Regionally, the country’s South Island continued to outperform, with the Canterbury region recording one of its strongest June sales results on record and the Southland region continuing to lead the country for annual house price index growth.
In contrast, the market in the national capital Wellington remained subdued, reinforcing the increasingly varied conditions across New Zealand, the report said.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) last week raised its official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.5 per cent, the first hike in three years, as it sought to reduce policy stimulus in the face of rising inflation.
With the direction of the official cash rate largely priced into the market, mortgage rates had already adjusted and the market continued to adapt to a higher interest rate environment, Ryley said.