Nz: housing market ‘on the edge’

House prices in New Zealand could fall up to 10% over the next few months…

Data from REINZ, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, showed the time taken to sell a house had risen significantly as the housing market continued to weaken, with February sales the lowest since March 2001. The national median price for February eased back from $340,000 in January to $337,500 last month, and just 0.7 percent ahead of the February 2007 median of $335,000.

REINZ president Murray Cleland said: The residential property market has reached a tipping point, with the annual price growth rate on the verge of moving into negative figures. However, it has not yet been conclusively proven that the housing market had gone into retreat”.

 Deutsche Bank chief economist Darren Gibbs added: "Whilst the median price rose 0.7 percent year on year in February, in our view a negative annual growth rate will almost certainly be recorded from next month onwards."