March 2020 House Price Index: “NZ Property Market Strengthens In March - The World Has Now Changed”

According to the CoreLogic QV March 2020 House Price Index results out today, the average value of property across New Zealand rose by 0.8% over the month, taking the three-month change to 2.6%.

The level of property values hit $728,276 last month – up by 6.1% from a year ago; the fastest rate of annual growth since August 2017 (6.9%). In other words, the results for March showed a continuation of the market upturn that had been underway for the previous 6-9 months.

Although COVID-19 became more prominent last month, the real impact didn’t begin to bite until the first day of level 4 lockdown on March 26th. We’re now in a completely different world, with no property settlements that involve the physical movement of people possible until at least the end of the current lockdown. This will have a major impact on the property market and relevant statistics, but the hope has to be that most sales activity is deferred rather than lost altogether.

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