Housing market still at a low ebb despite lift in sales

For New Zealand, excluding Auckland, the total number of properties sold has followed a similar pattern, increasing by 17% month-on-month and increasing by 12.2% year-on-year.

Across the regions, the data shows that only three of the 16 regions had a drop in the number of properties sold month-on- month – West Coast -5.6%, Taranaki -2.1% and Otago -0.3% – and only two had declines year-on-year – Nelson -16.9% and West Coast -2.9%.

Comparatively, Nelson was also the region with the biggest increase month-on-month for November, with a 51.3% rise, followed by Tasman at 32.8% and Wellington at 31.1%.

The national median sale price rose slightly, increasing by $1,000 to $790,000. Year-on-year, there is a slight national decrease of 2 % from $806,000, while New Zealand excluding Auckland is down by 1.4% to $700,000 from $710,000.