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Source: ONE News -
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Latest housing figures show total residential house sales recovered last month from their lowest level in nearly two decades.
But the national median house price remains steady at $350,000.
The Real Estate Institute says prices are sitting 4.9% below their November 2007 peak.
Wellington house prices were up 8.2% on the same time last year, Auckland up 7.2% and Christchurch up 4.3%.
The figures show the total value of residential sales in February was $2.14 billion, a significant increase on the January total of $1.53 billion.
The February total of 5029 dwellings sold is also well up on the January figure of 3,666.
REINZ president Peter McDonald says it is pleasing to see residential property sales turnover return to normal levels.
"Agents report an air of caution amongst buyers, most of whom are genuine home seekers as opposed to investors, and this is reflected in the increase to 46 in the median days taken to sell a listed dwelling," he says.
McDonald says recent government talk of potential tax changes have halted the number of inquiries from investors who usually buy at the lower end of the price range while no change in interest rates is keeping the genuine home buyers in the market.
"We are seeing a good supply of listings and high levels of inquiry so we expect the market to remain reasonably balanced and maybe strengthen as we move into the autumn months," says McDonald.
While the February national median residential house price remained level with January, it is still 6% up on the median price for February 2009.
There has also been an increase in 10 out of 12 districts in February when compared to the same month last year, with the largest gains in Taranaki (up 9.61%). After topping the list of percentage increases in January, Otago was the only region to experience a drop in median prices, down 0.44%.
