House prices up again

National house values chalked up their fourth successive month of increases in August, to be just 2.8 per cent lower than a year ago, according to Quotable Value figures.

Property values in the Wellington region were down 1.4 per cent on last year, a big improvement on the 4 per cent annual fall in July.

The average sale price for the region rose slightly from $429,571 to $431,614. But despite the increases, values in Wellington were still 7.3 per cent off their peak in 2007.

Pieter Geill of QV Valuations said a continuing shortage of listings had sparked renewed interest in property. "It is very hard to say if values will continue their upward trend in Wellington. An influx of listings in spring could very well see the market rebalance away from a seller's advantage."

Job losses in the public sector could also have an impact, he said.

Nationally, the August values were a sharp improvement on the same period in July, when prices were 5 per cent lower. The national average sale price also rose, to $385,426 in August from $382,758 in July.

Nationwide, values recovered to 1.9 per cent more than they were in April, but were still 7.9 per cent below their peak.

QV valuation manager Glenda Whitehead said confidence appeared to be returning to the market, with solid sales activity in August. But she cautioned that the pickup had been expected as more properties came on to the market.

Houses in all the main centres have increased in value in the past three months. Auckland and Christchurch were both 1.9 per cent below the same time last year.

Most of the provincial centres have also shown less annual decline than was reported last month.

- © Fairfax NZ News