Gisborne house prices increased more than $2500 in one day, new data shows

June 14, 2019

House prices throughout the country increased last month, but it was Gisborne that saw the most significant increase with a more than $2500 spike in a day.

Median prices in Gisborne were $440,000 - up from $285,000 the year before – a $155,000 increase, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

REINS chief executive Bindi Norwell says: "Gisborne was the strongest of all the regions in May, with a 54.4 per cent annual increase in the median house price and a 22.9 per cent monthly increase which is the equivalent of $2,645 a day.

"We haven’t seen price rises on this scale for a number of years now, showing just how strong regional growth is in parts of New Zealand."

Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 3.2 per cent in May to $578,000, up from $560,000 the same time last year.

Median price increases for New Zealand, excluding Auckland, were even stronger, increasing by 7.2 per cent to $487,770 - up from $455,000 in May last year.

In Auckland, median house prices had a slighter increase by 1.2 per cent year-on-year from $850,000 to $860,000. The number is the highest price the region has seen for 2019 so far.

"Looking at the country as a whole, median prices increased annually in 11 out of 16 regions with strong growth recorded in Southland (+16.7 per cent), Manawatu/Wanganui (+14.4 per cent), Hawke’s Bay (+9.3 per cent) and Otago (+8.2 per cent)," Ms Norwell says.

However, there were four regions which saw annual falls in median price during May – West Coast (-14 per cent), Tasman (-4.1 per cent), Northland (-1.9 per cent) and Marlborough (-1.2 per cent).

"The West Coast can be a very volatile market, particularly as we go into winter," Ms Norwell says. "So a -14 per cent fall in median price isn’t entirely surprising for this time of year.

"Given the strength of Tasman, Northland and Marlborough over the last few months, these were relatively small declines in the bigger scheme of things, but time will tell if this is just the start of the usual winter slow down."

As for house sales, the number of residential properties sold throughout New Zealand in May fell by -7.8 per cent from the same time last year to 7,263 (down from 7,876), although month-on-month the number of properties sold increased by 20.1 per cent, REINZ data shows.

"While the number of properties sold across the country was lower than the same time last year it’s actually the highest number of properties sold in 2019 so far," Ms Norwell says.

"However, given new listings have been down across the country for six of the last seven months now when compared to the same time last year, it’s not entirely surprising that the number of properties sold is down on the same time last year."

For New Zealand, excluding Auckland, the number of properties sold fell by just -1.4 per cent when compared to the same time last year (from 5,414 to 5,338). 

In Auckland, the number of properties sold in May fell by -21.8 per cent year-on-year (from 2,462 to 1,925). Auckland also saw a lift in the number of properties sold month-on-month with a 13.0 per cent increase from April.

Regions outside of Auckland with the greatest decrease in annual sales volumes during May were the West Coast (-32.3 per cent), Manawatu/Wanganui (-13.1 per cent) and Canterbury (-6.2 per cent).

Meanwhile, the regions with the strongest annual increase in sales volumes during May were Tasman (+19.7 per cent), Taranaki (+7.3 per cent) and Waikato (+6.1 per cent).

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