New Zealand

House values rising at slower pace

18:54 pm on 7 August 2014

The pace of growth in property values has continued to slow.

Quotable Value's monthly index of house prices rose 7.6 percent over the year to the end of July, compared with annual growth of 8 percent in the June year.

Auckland values rose at a slower pace of nearly 12 percent while Christchurch rose by 6.5 percent.

QV says many of the main centres are now experiencing a slowdown in the rate of value increases following cooling sales volumes over the past few months.

It attributes the slowdown to mortgage restrictions, rising interest rates and the annual winter seasonal downturn.

QV spokesperson Andrea Rush said there was a slowdown in the rate of value increases in many of the main centres.

Residential values in Christchurch were still rising, there were slight increases in Tauranga and Dunedin, while Hamilton and Wellington were down.

The North Shore saw the biggest increase in the Auckland region, up 3.5 percent over the past quarter.

For the first time in the last two years Auckland Central is showing signs of slowing, with values there dropping 1 percent.

Listen to Andrea Rush