New Zealand’s housing market slows markedly, house sales volumes fall sharply in January

The REINZ housing data for the month of January indicates a marked deceleration in New Zealand’s housing market in the month. January is usually the quietest part of the year anyway, but the seasonally adjusted figures indicate towards a renewed downturn following some signs of stabilization during the end of 2016.

The seasonally adjusted national sales volumes dropped 6.3 percent sequentially in January. Even if there has been quite a volatility, this continues a cooler trend seen since around April 2016. The turnover has actually dropped in seven of the last nine months and is 25 percent lower than the levels seen in April.

The median time to sell remained the same, holding at 34 days, noted ANZ.  It has hovered at this point for the last three months, up from 30 days earlier in 2016. Throughout the country, prices of house dropped; however, led entirely by Auckland. The REINZ Stratified House Price Index dropped 0.9 percent sequentially on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was the first decline in five months. However, growth in price was already moderating before this, with prices rising just 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter and annualizing at just 5.2 percent on a three-month average basis, stated ANZ.

Auckland has seen sharply lower prices. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices in Auckland dropped 6.2 percent sequentially in January, the largest monthly drop since 1999. Annual growth is at 6.3 percent year-on-year; however, prices have dropped 5.8 percent in the past three months. Wellington and other North Island regions continue to perform better, with annual growth coming at 22 percent and 16 percent respectively.

At 7:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of New Zealand Dollar neutral at -50.0681, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 12.5275. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex