It recorded new national stratified index highs for Auckland and Christchurch and said that the market continues to experience a significant shortage of listings.
Overall the national median price increased $2,000 compared to May and remains just $6,000 below the record median set in March 2013.
REINZ director Bryan Thomson said that price levels in Auckland and Canterbury are having an increasingly significant impact on the national picture. Canterbury recorded the largest increase in median price compared with June last year, and Auckland the second largest increase in median price.
Together both regions accounted for 99.6% of the $22,000 increase in the national median between June 2013 and June 2012. Price gains in most other regions have been minimal, with the median price for the rest of New Zealand $2,300 lower than November 2007.
‘The continuing strength of house prices in Auckland and Canterbury is being driven by the rising imbalance between supply and demand, with the number of properties coming to market from new builds and existing owners falling well short of the demand for housing,’ said Thomson.
‘The number of houses available for sale is an issue for most regions in New Zealand; however, the problem is most acute in Auckland and Canterbury. There appears to a change in market behaviour with rising prices and demand for housing in Auckland and Canterbury not being enough to increase the number of listings,’ he explained.
‘While the growth rate in sales in Auckland has averaged around 20% for the past two years, the growth in the number of listings has been almost negligible. Normally we would expect the number of listings to increase more rapidly coming out of a downturn, but as yet, this does not appear to be happening,’ he added.
REINZ data shows there were 6,135 unconditional residential sales in June, equal to the number of sales in June 2012, and a fall of 20.5% compared to May 2013. However, on a seasonally adjusted basis the volume of residential sales was up 0.6% compared to May, and up 6.1% compared to June 2012.
Six regions recorded increases in sales volume compared to June last year, with Taranaki recording an increase of 18.4%, followed by Central Otago Lakes with 15.8% and Waikato/Bay of Plenty with 3.8%.
All regions recorded a decrease in sales volume in June compared to May, with Hawkes Bay recording a decrease of 32.2%, followed by Southland with a decrease of 29.8% and Manawatu/Wanganui with a decrease of 27.6%.
The national median house price increased by 0.5% from $392,000 in May, to $394,000 in June. Compared to June 2012 the national median house price increased by 5.9%, with seven of the 12 regions recording an increase in the median price.
However, this is polarised with 80.7% of the increase in the national median price compared to June last year occurred in Auckland and 18.9% occurred in Canterbury/Westland. Together these two regions accounted for all but 0.4% of the increase in the median price between June 2012 and June 2013.
Canterbury/Westland recorded a new record median price of $365,000. Compared to June 2012 Canterbury/Westland recorded the largest increase in median price, up 12.3%, followed by Auckland with 11%, and Southland with 6.9%. Central Otago Lakes recorded the largest fall, down 11.8%, followed by Northland down 4.9% and Manawatu/Wanganui down 2.2%.
The REINZ Stratified Housing Price Index, which adjusts for some of the variations in mix that can impact on the median price, is 8.4% higher than June 2012 and eased very slightly compared to May. The Auckland, Christchurch and Other South Island Stratified Housing Price Indices all hit new record highs in June, with the Auckland Index up 19.8% compared to June 2012, the Christchurch Index is up 10.6% and the other South Island Index up 7.3%.
Houses took one day less to sell in June compared to May, improving from 35 days in May to 34 days in June. Compared to June 2012, the number of days to sell improved by three days. Eight regions saw an improvement in the number of days to sell between June 2012 and June 2013, with Central Otago Lakes recording the largest improvement of 41 days.
For the month of June, Canterbury/Westland recorded the shortest days to sell at 26 days, followed by Auckland at 30 days, and Wellington at 37 days. Taranaki recorded the longest number of days to sell at 76 days, followed by Northland with 70 days and Waikato/Bay of Plenty with 56 days.
Over the past 10 years the median days to sell for the month of June has averaged 38 days across New Zealand.