There's little heat in the housing market with the national average house price rising only slightly.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Quotable Value's monthly house price index increased 5.4 percent for the year to October from 4.6 percent in September.
The national average house price rose 0.8 percent to $681,802, an increase of just over $5000.
Property values rose 1.1 percent annually in the Auckland region.
QV general manager David Nagel said first home buyers continued to be a major force in the market, particularly in the more affordable parts of the Wellington and Christchurch regions.
"Undoubtedly, the heat has been taken out of the market in recent months.
"A key market indicator, the median days to sell, is up across many regions including Auckland."
Properties with an average value of more than $1 million were generally seeing a slowdown in the rate of growth, given affordability constraints, he said.
"As anticipated, value growth remains modest across many areas as affordability constraints put the brakes on after a period of sustained growth."
Values grew more strongly in provincial New Zealand, particularly in parts of Waikato, Rangitikei, Tararua, Central Hawke's Bay and Masterton. In the South Island, values were up in Invercargill, Clutha and Gore, Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes.
Separately, the real estate industry's advertising portal indicates the Auckland market has turned with a drop in asking prices last month, and an increase of 20 in new listings.
The average asking price on realestate.co.nz was about $965,000 in Auckland, versus QV's median value of just over $1 million.