Wellington house prices fall

ANDREW GORRIE / The Dominion Post

The average house price in Wellington has fallen

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LATEST: The average house price in Wellington has fallen 3.5 per cent to $538,000, with the corresponding section value reducing 4.4 per cent to $258,000.

Quotable Value today released the new property valuations for the city to be used by Wellington City Council to set rates for the year starting July 2010.

The hardest hit area was Tawa central where average house values plummeted by 9.6 per cent to $360,000.

Flats and townhouses in central Tawa fared even worse, dropping 13 per cent to $302,000.

The least affected suburbs were Crofton Downs, Ngaio, Churton Park, Johnsonville and Mt Victoria where house values fell by less than one per cent since the last valuation in 2007.

Even though values have fallen it does not mean that individual rates bills will follow suit said council's chief financial officer Neil Cherry.

''The council uses property values to divide the rates it needs to collect between all ratepayers. It doesn't collect more rates just because capital values have increased and it doesn't collect fewer rates just because capital values have decreased.''

Property revaluations were done every year, but from this year they will be completed every three years in a move that will save the council $750,000.

The new valuations will be mailed to property owners next week.

Owners can also see the new values at the Council Service Centre on Wakefield St.