House prices continued rising in November with the the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's national median price setting a new record of $455,750, which was up 6% compared to October and up 7.2% compared with November last year.
The number of homes sold was also on the rise, with 7,416 dwellings selling in November, a 12.2% increase on October's sales and and a 6.5% increase on November last year.
"The November data shows there was an element of buoyancy returning to parts of the real estate market, with new record median prices at the national level, along with regional records for Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury/Westland and Waikato/Bay of Plenty," REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said.
"Commentary from around the regions suggests that the top ends of a number of regional markets are performing well, with the middle and lower ends doing less well," she said.
In the Auckland region the median price rose to a record $670,000, an increase of 4.6% since October and up 8.1% since November last year.
Strong price gains were recorded in all districts within the region, with the median at $792,000 on the North Shore (up 3.9% compared to October), $602,000 in Waitakere (up 4.1%), $780,000 in central Auckland (up 4%), $620,000 in Manukau (up 3.3%), and $630,000 in Rodney (up 4.5%).
In Hamilton the median rose 6.5% for the month to $380,000 and in Tauranga it was up 1% to $390,000.
In Central Wellington the median increased by 2.9% for the month to $550,000 and in Lower Hutt it increased 5.3% to $370,000.
In Christchurch the median was up 3.9% for the month to $446,750 and in Dunedin the median increased 5.1% to $270,000.
In a First Impressions note on the latest REINZ figures, Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said on a seasonally adjusted basis the number of sales was up 14.2% for the month, its biggest monthly increase since 2008, while the REINZ's House Price Index increased by 2.4%, its biggest monthly increase since 2005.
"This more than confirms our long held view that the housing market would respond vigorously to lower mortgage rates and booming population growth once the election and the revaluation of Auckland properties had passed," he said.
The REINZ itself said its national Stratified Median House Price Index was up 6% year-on-year to a new record high of 4,118.7. The Auckland, Christchurch and other North Island indicies also hit fresh record highs, with the Auckland one up 9.4% year-on-year, and Christchurch up 9.2%.
See REINZ's full release on regional data here.
Median price - REINZ
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