Auckland housing 'a dog's breakfast'

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Auckland’s housing market is a “dogs breakfast” according to the latest expert report.

The Institute of Public Policy and Berl Economics has released it Auckland Economy report for March – and complains there are too many conflicting figures making it difficult to draw any conclusions about the state of the region’s housing.

While Quotable Value (QV) says the Auckland market is up 3.5 percent, the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) claims it has hiked  6.5 percent.

The only common theme is uncertainty.

“The most conclusive message we can extract from the information is that the rapid recovery/rebound being signalled by some late last year is by no means a foregone conclusion.”

REINZ puts the average days to sell a house in Auckland at 36 in the first part of 2010, below the previous year’s average of 49.

The report predicts house prices will remain “marginally higher” than the national average as more people move to the city.

However, proposed changes to tax laws and rises in interest rates look set to “restrain growth in the latter half of 2010 and into 2011”.  

- © Fairfax NZ News