The number of houses being sold has dropped with the onset of winter this year, but the frosty conditions have done nothing to make homes more affordable and diminish price rises.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released their real estate data for the month of June today, with the median house price across the country rising 5.7 per cent to a record equal median of $560,000 - up from $530,000 the same time last year.
Despite this price rise, the number of properties actually sold across the country decreased in June by 1.6 per cent.
There were 6,034 houses sold in June 2018 compared to 6,131 in June 2017.
REINZ attributed this difference to significant decreases in sales volumes in eight out of 16 New Zealand regions and a 9.9 per cent decrease in new property listings year-on-year.
New Zealand's most expensive three territorial authorities were Auckland City with a median of $1,010,000, North Shore City with a median of $975,000 and Queenstown Lake District with a median of $908,000.
However, Auckland's median price actually decreased by 0.7 per cent year-on-year to $850,000 down from $856,000 last year.
New Zealand's median price excluding Auckland remained at a record equalling figure of $460,000 in June - up 7.0 per cent on June 2017.
Three regions saw record median prices during June 2018 – Waikato (+11.7 per cent to $525,000), Wellington (+12.3 per cent to $595,000) and Marlborough (+11.4 per cent to $440,000).
Other regions with strong annual increases included Gisborne (+26.9 per cent to $330,000) and Hawke’s Bay (+15.3 per cent to $430,000).
REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell said the data reveals a "two-tier market" across New Zealand where prices are remaining stable in Auckland and Canterbury but rising in most other parts.
"While Jack Frost may have got his icy grip on sales volumes, he has not been able to extend this to prices as New Zealand’s median price increased by 5.7 per cent year-on-year," Ms Norwell said.
"The lack of housing supply continues to put pressure on prices in the majority of regions across New Zealand, with 12 out of 16 regions seeing a price increase since June last year.
"Until we solve the supply issue, house prices are likely to continue rising, particularly as the OCR remains low and the banks continue dropping interest rates.
"From a volume perspective, we’ve seen the usual winter slowdown impact the market. Sales volumes fell significantly year-on-year on the West Coast (-25.7 per cent) which was the lowest sales count for 14 months, Waikato (-14.0 per cent) also the lowest sales count for 14 months, Wellington (-10.6 per cent) the lowest number of properties sold for 5 months and Otago (-8.3 per cent) the lowest sales count for 11 months.
"Despite this, there were some regions that saw a strong increase in sales including Hawke’s Bay (+23.0 per cent), Tasman (+22.8 per cent) and Manawatu/Wanganui (+14.1 per cent)."
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