NZ: Housing market is cooling - Westpac

Dominick Stephens, Chief Economist at Westpac, explains that the New Zealand’s housing market is cooling again, based on the most recent data from REINZ and Quotable Value as the latest data confirms that the brief resurgence is over.

Key Quotes

“Based on Westpac seasonal adjustment, house sales fell 3.3% in April after a similar sized decline in March, and the house price index fell 0.1%. The weakness in April was most pronounced in the upper North Island – Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Tauranga. In these regions, which account for about half of New Zealand’s population, both house prices and house sales fell noticeably.”

“Our long-held views on the housing market are on track. We have been expecting the housing market to cool and house prices to fall due to a raft of law changes.”