The housing market appears to be cooling over winter, with prices flattening out and the number of sales declining slightly compared to May.
According to the Real Estate Institute of NZ figures, the national median price was $820,000 in June, barely changed from $817,500 in May and down very slightly form the record high of $825,000 set in March.
This suggests the surge in prices that was evident late last year and earlier this year has come to an end.
In Auckland, the country's biggest market by far, the median price hit a new record of $1,150,000, but that was up by just $2000 compared to May's median of $1,148,000.
In the Wellington region, June's median price of $885,000 was also unchanged compared to May and slightly below the February peak of $895,000 and in Canterbury the median price declined from its May peak of $580,000 to $569,000 in June.
The interactive chart below shows the median price trends for all regions.
Sales volumes were more of a mixed bag, with the housing market showing something of a split personality in June, with residential property sales much stronger in Auckland than they were in the rest of the country.
There were 7345 residential properties sold throughout the country in June, down from 7720 in May but up 6.2% compared to June last year and the highest number of properties sold in the month of June for five years.
However, the surge in sales was largely driven by activity in Auckland, where 2766 properties were sold in June, down from 2834 in May but up 29% compared to June last year and the highest number of sales recorded in the Auckland region in the month of June for 15 years.
But in the rest of the country, excluding Auckland, 4579 residential properties were sold in June, down 4% compared to June last year and the lowest number of sales for the month in June in two years.
In the Wellington region the number of sales declined for the third consecutive month to just 694 in June, down 8% compared to June last year, and in Canetrbury the number of sales also declined for the third month in a row to 1026 in June, which was up 8% compared to June last year.
The second interactive chart below shows the sales volume trends in all regions.
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Median price - REINZ
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Volumes sold - REINZ
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