Marlborough, Invercargill and Queenstown were the only main centres to record modest growth this quarter. File photo. Photo: Unsplash / Tom Rumble
Residential property values continue to fall with only three urban areas recording positive growth, according to the latest QV House Price Index.
The index shows national values fell an average of 1.9 percent in the three months ended in July, which was a larger rate of decline than the 0.9 percent drop in the June quarter.
The average home value was $909,517, which was 2.3 percent up on the same time last year and 0.5 percent up from the start of the year.
"Residential property values are slowly shrinking across all price brackets, in almost every part of Aotearoa," QV operations manager James Wilson said.
"This is to be expected given the current challenging economic conditions, with a rising sense of job insecurity and persistently high interest rates leaving both buyers and sellers between a rock and a hard place."
Marlborough (up 0.6 percent), Invercargill (up 0.4 percent) and Queenstown (up 0.3 percent) were the only main centres to record modest growth this quarter.
Whangarei (down 3.9 percent) and Auckland (down 3.4 percent) had the largest falls, with Auckland recording six consecutive months of negative growth, bringing the average home value down 0.4 percent from the same time last year.
Average values were also down for the fourth straight month in Wellington, with Christchurch values down two months in a row.
"We're also seeing a pretty major imbalance between the number of properties available for sale on the market this winter and a shallow pool of buyers who are willing and able to make a purchase," Wilson said.
"This is helping to maintain downward pressure on prices overall, with sellers having to adjust their expectations, pull their listings, or play the waiting game until conditions eventually improve."
But Wilson said there was some growing optimism that mortgage rate relief could be on the not-too-distant horizon with keen interest on the Reserve Bank's decision on the official cash rate when it releases its monetary policy statement on Wednesday.
"Markets don't tend to respond too well to uncertainty. So, when we do eventually get a firmer steer on when we can expect mortgage rate relief, it may signal a shift in sentiment, which could spark some life in certain parts of the property market - but it's not expected to trigger a rush back to the races.
"Unemployment is on the rise, and we may see an uptick in mortgagee sales as a result of economic strife, but it's still unlikely that we'll see any strong value declines as we make our way through the rest of winter. It's even less likely that we'll see any sudden strong home value growth," Wilson said.