Property Price Rise Gains Momentum

The strong upswing in the property prices in New Zealand, seen last year has slowed drastically in the recent few months. The asking value for properties and real estate has inflated by a mere 3.9 percent this year in comparison to healthy 8.7 percent, which was recorded last year. Only 6,608 house sales was recorded in the month of October, which is clearly better than the September sales, but it is still way below the sales recorded the same month last year.According to Helen O' Sullivan, the chief executive of Real Estate Institute of New Zealand or REINZ, there has been an evident rise in the level of activity in the property market in the month of October, with sales showing an improvement of almost 12 percent compared to the month before. A similar trend has been witnessed throughout the country. There has also been an increase in the number of listings across the country, but the picture is a lot different when it comes to the price.Inventory of homesWhen it comes to the inventory of sales, it is quite far below the long-term average and it has remained the same for almost three years now. It is particularly unmistakable in Auckland. Here the inventory is around 15 weeks of available stock, which is way below the average inventory of 27 weeks. What this means is that if there are no new listings and the sales continue to remain at the current rates, it would take only a few months for all the available Auckland homes which are on the market to be sold.Sales volumesA total of 11 regions recorded an increase in the volume of sales when you compare it to the month of September. The Otago region registered the largest percentage increase with close to 29 percent. It was followed by Taranaki and Southland with a close 27 percent. At the end of the year, the number of new listings gained significantly every month. The trend that is normally seen during the spring season is quite evident, but it is not as striking as in the last few years.PricesThe national median house price rose by about $10000 when compared to the month of September, but it showed a remarkable improvement of 5.4 percent with nine regions showing an impressive increase in the median price. Canterbury and Auckland account for the majority of the movement. The average asking value in Waikato is almost the same when compared to the $395,000 which was set in the month of July. The price in the city of Auckland is above $700,000, surpassing the monthly score for the third time. Unlike in the rest of the regions, the average asking value is still moving up potently in Auckland, where the home-owners are now expecting to sell their belongings for 10 percent more in comparison to a year ago.The time it took for the properties to be soldWhen it comes to the time taken to sell houses in the month of October there has not been any major rise or slowdown compared to last month, when it took 34 days. In October, it took 33 days. An improvement was seen in the Northland and Taranaki region. On the other hand, it took 52 days for all the houses to be sold in the Hawkes Bay region.A number of the dwellings were sold through auctions in the month of October, which contributed to 20.7 percent of all the sales. Despite the high prices and comparatively low number of homes on the market, the buyer interest remains pretty strong.