Residential property prices continued to increase in most parts of the country in August, although there was a decline in the rate at which prices increased, according to the Real Estate Institute of NZ's House Price Index (HPI).
It shows that across the entire country, house prices increased by 2% in August, but that was down from growth of 2.4% in July.
However there were significant regional variations, with price growth in Auckland declining from 3.3% in July to 2.3% in August, while across the rest of the country excluding Auckland, price growth was flat at 1.7% in both July and August.
The HPI adjusts for differences in the composition of sales each month, so is less affected by changes in the types of properties sold each month than median or average prices.
It shows that although overall price growth slowed in Auckland during August, the region was split in two, with districts in the north and west showing increasing price growth while the central and southern districts all showed slowing price growth (see the table below for the full district-by-district figures).
In other main centres the rate of price growth increased in August in Tauranga and Wellington, but declined in Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin.
There were only four cities where price growth turned negative in August, meaning overall prices would have declined compared to July, they were New Plymouth -2.7%, Palmerston North -0.5%, Dunedin -0.3% and Invercargill -1.7%.
However August's figures need to be treated with caution because of the substantial impact the Level 4 lockdown had on the market.
It could take a couple of months for the market to fully recover once lockdown restrictions are eased, which means it might be November before more reliable data is available to track market trends.
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| REINZ House Price Index | |||
| Monthly Percentage Change | |||
| July 2021 | August 2021 | ||
| New Zealand | 2.4% | 2.0% | |
| Rest of NZ excluding Auckland | |||
| 1.7% | 1.7% | ||
| Auckland Region | 3.3% | 2.3% | |
| Rodney | 2.0% | 2.9% | |
| North Shore | 2.5% | 3.4% | |
| Waitakere | 2.5% | 3.0% | |
| Central Auckland | 3.5% | 0.9% | |
| Manukau | 4.2% | 3.6% | |
| Papakura | 6.0% | 2.5% | |
| Franklin | 4.1% | 2.1% | |
| Whangarei | 1.0% | 2.5% | |
| Hamilton | 2.4% | 0.9% | |
| Tauranga | 0.5% | 3.4% | |
| Rotorua | 2.4% | 0.2% | |
| Hastings | 0.9% | 8.6% | |
| Napier | 0.0% | 1.5% | |
| New Plymouth | 6.0% | -2.7% | |
| Palmerston North | 1.4% | -0.5% | |
| Wellington Region | 0.6% | 1.7% | |
| Porirua | 1.8% | 5.1% | |
| Upper Hutt | 1.1% | 2.5% | |
| Lower Hutt | -0.2% | 4.0% | |
| Wellington City | -0.1% | 0.1% | |
| Nelson | -0.3% | 2.7% | |
| Christchurch | 4.7% | 2.6% | |
| Queenstown-Lakes | 5.0% | 0.9% | |
| Dunedin | 2.4% | -0.3% | |
| Invercargill | 1.6% | -1.7% | |
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