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The Real Estate Institute has its doubts about the Reserve Bank's latest house prices assessment.
The Reserve Bank predicts house prices will fall by 22% from last year's highs if inflation is taken into account.
The average house price was nearly $400,000 at the peak of the property boom last March. If the bank's forecast is correct, nearly $80,000 would be shaved off the average house value.
But the Real Estate Institute says house prices appear to be holding up and the housing drop may not be as serious as the bank feels.
Institute president Murray Cleland says nationally the median price only moved down $3,000 last month to $337,000.
Cleland suspects the drop predicted by the Reserve Bank may not happen. He says there will be a clearer picture of what is happening in the housing market when the institute's statistics come out next week.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has left the Official Cash Rate at 8.25% but has signaled that cuts are on the way to help boost what he is forcasting will be a seriously flagging economy.
Following that announcement ASB Bank reduced their fixed home lending rates for 18 months through to five years.
