PHOTO: NZ spring property market
According to the CoreLogic House Price Index (HPI) for September, nationwide property values are showing signs of growth once again, increasing 0.8% over the month, after generally stalling since May.
Property values have held firm through the worst of the economic downturn following the strict lockdown policies implemented in March. The combination of low interest rates, access to credit and renewed confidence has seen demand hold firm.
Limited available supply, in the form of a low number of for-sale listings remains a key contributor to the property market’s resilience to lower values. Additionally, the absence of any meaningful lift in unemployment (yet) has minimised the number of urgent listings or strongly motivated vendors willing to discount their price.
The social restrictions placed on Auckland, and to a lesser extent the rest of the country, threatened to put a further dent in upcoming listings, however based on the trend in appraisals generated by real estate agents on CoreLogic platforms, the blip in activity in mid-August was relatively short lived and activity is now back to normal.
Main Centres
The lift in values witnessed at a nationwide level is generally also evident across each of the six main centres, with Tauranga the only exception, though the drop of -0.3% in September is very minor and essentially extends the recent trend of sideways movement in Tauranga since COVID hit (+0.3%).
READ MORE VIA CORELOGIC
