House prices; The good news and the bad news.

A looming demand for new dwellings and a predicted spring sales recovery are just some of the hopeful signs emerging for the housing sector this week. The sector, picked by some to be hammered by a 30 per cent chop, is giving off mixed messages: still depressed but beginning to exhibit recovery signals.

First, the good news for people who want to see house prices rise. The state-owned QV revised the national house price drop from 9.2 per cent in April to a more cheering 8.1 per cent in May and noted "continued stabilisation of property values in recent months".

Figures from agencies Harcourts and Barfoot & Thompson showed signals that demand for houses was outstripping supply.

Now the bad news: mortgagee sales are rising, job insecurity has gripped the market and the latest data from the Real Estate Institute found extremely low sale volumes and the national median price dropping from April's $340,000 to May's $337,500.

So where to for this market and the financial outlook for the single most valuable asset most people own?

To read the full NZ Herald article click here

Posted: 4 Jul 2009

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