Property prices have rebounded following five months of back-to-back declines ahead of this week’s Official Cash Rate announcement, according to Trade Me’s latest Property Price Index.
The average asking price for a property nationally in September was $823,550 — a 0.6% increase from August and the first time since March prices saw a month-on-month increase.
The West Coast (3.1%), Northland (2%) and Bay of Plenty (1.9%) saw the biggest increases out of the 15 regions monitored by Trade Me Property.
Customer director Gavin Lloyd said it was “significant” to see positive growth at this point of the year.
“It suggests that while we’ve endured a challenging winter period, there’s renewed optimism in the housing market.
“It will be interesting to see what happens with this week’s OCR announcement and whether the trends we are seeing continue over the next month and into summer.”
Eleven of the 15 regions Trade Me Property monitors saw an increase in the average asking price in September, up from just five in August.
Auckland’s average property prices are re-approaching the $1 million mark after dropping below it for the first time in four years in August.
The four regions that saw a drop were Nelson/Tasman (-2.3%), Taranaki (-2.2%), Gisborne (-1.4%), and Southland (-1.2%).
The national housing supply remains strong, the index said, with an increase of 23% year-on-year and up 1% compared to last month.
Gisborne recorded the highest increase in available properties compared to September 2023, up 64%, with Wellington up more than 44% and Otago up more than 35%.
