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Wednesday August 10, 2011

NZ housing market flat in July        


WELLINGTON: New Zealand's housing market remained flat in July, with some improvement in the country's biggest city and earthquakehit Christchurch, but largely soft elsewhere, government property valuer Quotable Value (QV) said on Monday.

QV's residential house price index fell 0.4% in the year to July after a 0.9% decline in the year to June, with Auckland, the biggest population and commercial centre, leading with a 1.9% rise.

“Nationwide property values have steadied over the past month,” said QV research director Jonno Ingerson.

The housing market has struggled to gain any momentum since the economy emerged from recession in mid-2009. The market remains 5.2% below its peak in late 2007. The average sale price, which is not used to calculate the main index, over the three months to July rose 0.4% to NZ$414,261 (US$345,200) compared to a month earlier.

In Christchurch, the country's second biggest city, which was badly damaged by an earthquake on Feb 22, values rose 0.5% over the past three months, helped by demand for properties in undamaged areas. - Reuters

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