PHOTO: NZ Property Market
NZ property values continue to show modest growth, with the CoreLogic QV House Price Index for April showing an increase of 2.7% over the past year. This is a minor improvement on the prior month (2.6%).
The weakness witnessed across Auckland’s property market has continued to weigh down the headline results, with the annual fall of 1.5% at the end of April, exactly the same as reported last month. The continued strength in the provinces is clear however, with dwelling values tracking 8.2% higher over the year across the combined thirteen provincial centres.
The stronger markets of Wellington (+8.2% pa) and Dunedin (+13.0% pa) showed some signs of a loss in momentum in April, however they still remain the best performing main centres. Hamilton (+5.1% pa), Tauranga (+5.1% pa) and Christchurch experienced notable lifts in the annual growth rates. In Christchurch, annual growth picked up from 0.6% to 1.3% – still subdued, but the highest figure since April 2017.
Head of Research, Nick Goodall says that “With the relative shock of the Government completely ruling out a more comprehensive capital gains tax in April, attention now shifts to the Reserve Bank and their official cash rate (OCR) announcement and Monetary Policy Statement release on 8 May. Market expectation is for a reduction in the OCR to 1.50%, which would be supportive of the property market at a time when banks are already competing fiercely for mortgage market share, via low interest rates.”
READ MORE VIA CORE LOGIC