House prices continue to slide

KIRK HARGREAVES/The Press

SLUMP: Spring has failed to halt the property market slide, amid uncertainty ahead of the election and the impact of the financial crisis.

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Spring has failed to halt the property market slide, amid uncertainty ahead of the election and the impact of the financial crisis.

The average house in the Wellington region sold for $12,870 less, at $411,228 in October, the latest figures from Quotable Value show.

Values in the Wellington region were down slightly from September, to 6.1 per cent below a year ago.

QV Wellington spokesman Max Meyers said there was a clear and persistent pattern of declining values for the region.

"The expected surge of spring activity has not arrived and this is certainly not helped by the current financial circumstances," he said.

However, real estate agents were reporting a lift in inquiries from bargain-hunters and home owners who did not want to wait any longer.

Lower Hutt suffered the region's biggest fall in value, down 9.2 per cent on a year earlier, from 8.6 per cent in September.

That compared with a gain of nearly 20 per cent in the year to October 2007.

North Wellington had the smallest fall at 3.9 per cent. More than 83 per cent of sales in Lower Hutt were at prices below their 2007 rating value, compared with just under three-quarters of sales in Wellington city.

Mr Myers expected that trend to continue into the new year while buyers took advantage of attractive buying opportunities.

National property values for the year to October fell a percentage point, from 5.8 per cent a month before, but the average sale price remained steady at $379,290.

"Activity levels remain unusually low, especially considering that spring usually brings an upsurge in the number of house sales," QV national spokesman Blue Hancock said.

"There appears to be uncertainty in the market, with many buyers and sellers waiting to see any impact from the financial crisis, dropping interest rates and the election before committing to property transactions."

Most of the main centres experienced a further slight decline in values. Across the Auckland area, values were down 7.7 per cent compared with the same time last year, and Christchurch 7.8 per cent.

Among the main provincial centres, New Plymouth was down 8.1 per cent, Wanganui 6.0 per cent, Palmerston North 9.5 per cent and Nelson 4.9 per cent.

- © Fairfax NZ News