Residential property prices in New Zealand rose by 8.5 per cent in the year to August 2013, according to new figures released by the state-owned Quotable Value (QV) agency.
The average price of a home in New Zealand is currently a record NZ$448,229, the latest data shows.
The latest large annual rise in property prices has once again been put down to significant price increases in the Auckland and Canterbury regions, where a lack of available properties on the market are pushing up prices at what many experts consider an unsustainable rate.
“Auckland and Canterbury are still driving the national increase in values, with the other main cities seeing limited growth,” QV research director Jonno Ingerson said in a statement.
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According to the QV figures, prices in Christchurch have risen by 11.4 per cent in the last year, taking the average property price in the city to NZ$436,251, while in Auckland house values have increased by 13.1 per cent, leaving the average price of a property at NZ$652,159.
In an attempt to stem the price increases, which many analysts fear could lead to a property bubble, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) recently announced that it will impose limits on the amount of low deposit-high value house loans (LVR) banks can issue to lenders. These rules will come into affect at the start of October.
No other cities recorded price increases above the national average rate. The next largest average price rises were recorded in New Plymouth (4.9 per cent) followed by Nelson and Queenstown Lakes (both 4.4 per cent).
Wanganui (-0.9 per cent) and Invercargill (-0.3 per cent) were the only two of the 17 cities for which data is available to experience property price decreases between August 2012 and August 2013.