There is considerable uncertainty in the housing market and the majority of people expect mortgage interest rates to rise, according to the latest ASB Housing Confidence Survey.
The survey for the second quarter of this year found that 48% of people of people expected house prices to rise, up from 46% in the first quarter of this year, while 26% expected them to remain the same (27% in Q1) and 15% didn't know, which was unchanged from the first quarter.
However, there were substantial regional variations, with Aucklanders the most pessimistic on price and Cantabrians the most optimistic.
There was a greater variety of opinions about the direction of interest rates, with 37% of people expecting them to rise over the coming year, down from 38% in the first quarter, 32% expected them to stay the same, 26% didn't know and just 4% expect them to fall, down from 6% in the first quarter.
Interest rate expectations were much more uniform across the country than house price expectations.
"The still subdued house price expectations suggest that ongoing uncertainty in the housing market is fuelling caution about market prospects," ASB's economists said in their commentary on the survey results.
"While election-related uncertainty has subsided, the outlook for the housing market is murky.
"Competing influences of strong population growth, limited supply, legislation uncertainty and affordability constraints have subdued market activity and prices.
That is showing up in whether people thought it was a good or bad time to buy, with 19% of survey respondents saying it was a bad time to buy and just 14% saying it was a good time, 52% saying it was neither good nor bad and 15% didn't know.
Canterbury was the only region of the country where a majority of respondents thought it was a good time to buy.
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