NZ property values keep rising in January: QV

NZ property values keep rising in January, gains extend beyond Auckland, Christchurch

Feb. 11 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand property values continued to rise in January, though those gains are extending beyond Auckland and Christchurch where limited supply has led to inflated sale prices.

National property values rose 1.5 percent in the three months ended Jan. 31 to $426,452 and are up 6.2 percent over the past year, according to state valuer Quotable Value. That's the same rolling three-monthly pace of growth from December, and up from the 5.7 percent annual increase. Property values are now 2.6 percent above the last peak in late 2007.

The gains weren't limited to Auckland and Christchurch, where an undersupply of housing has caused values to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the nation.

"Over the last month or two, values have also begun rising again in most other main cities and provincial centres," QV research director Jonno Ingerson said in a statement. "While the rate of value increase is not as fast as Auckland and Canterbury, it does signal an increase in confidence across most of the country."

The prospect of a ballooning housing market growing beyond the country's two biggest centres will come under scrutiny from the Reserve Bank, which has voiced its discomfort at the level of house prices.

Governor Graeme Wheeler has been under increasing pressure to take the heat out of the property market through the use of macro-prudential tools such as loan-to-value ratios or increasing banks' capital ratio requirements, which lobbyists claim would also take pressure of interest rates and the currency.

QV's Ingerson said property prices are set to stay under pressure with rising sales volumes lead to a lack of available houses for sale.

Auckland property values rose 3 percent in the rolling three-month period and were up 10 percent on an annual basis, while Christchurch values rose a quarterly 2.4 percent an annual 7.1 percent.

Hamilton property values increased 1 percent in the three months ended Jan. 31, and were up 3.7 percent on the year, while Tauranga values were flat on a rolling three-month basis, and down 1 percent from a year ago.

Wellington property values increased 0.6 percent in the three months through January, and up 1.8 percent on the year, while Dunedin property values gained 1.1 percent in the rolling period for a 2.7 percent annual gain.

(BusinessDesk)

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