According to figures, which were released on Sunday by Quotable Value, the residential property in New Zealand is being hit across nearly all major cities as well as the larger provincial centres in the country.
In 2007, property values rose by 10 per cent for the year. A closer look at those numbers shows that property values rose 13 per cent between January 2007 and August 2007. So far this year, the yearly increase in value is only 8.9 per cent.
Property values are static across the country for the last three months. Key factors behind this included higher mortgage interest rates, which made some potential homeowners unable to purchase property.
The drop in the number of properties being sold is evident from nearly any estate agent asked. Barfoot and Thompson a leading Auckland agent reported that in January they negotiated 604 sales. This is a 40 per cent drop over last year's numbers where they sold 1003 properties.
Locations such as Tauranga and Taupo have price growth that was under 3.5 per cent. This number is just under inflation.
In many of these areas, experts believe that property values will continue to fall throughout this year.
The largest growth was seen in Rodney, followed by Manukau, North Shore and Waitakere.
