Average house price in Auckland/Northland 'at a 12 month high'

Provisional residential data from New Zealand’s largest real estate group, Harcourts for the month of February shows that the average property price in Auckland/Northland is at a 12 month high of $767,254. New listings were down 7.4% this month compared to last year and with written sales up 3.5%, we will see a further tightening in supply that will continue to put upward pressure on house prices. With new dwelling consents lagging significantly behind population growth we do not expect to see the price pressure in the Auckland residential property market abating this year. Harcourts CEO Hayden Duncan says that more needs to be done to accelerate the construction of affordable housing in Auckland. "It’s clear that the Auckland property market needs significant capital investment to spur on residential development and that Council and Government must address the speed of the consenting process," says Duncan. "It is widely agreed now that prices will remain at current levels for a number of years and there simply needs to be a more effective strategy in place to deal with the housing affordability issue."