New Zealand's housing market is continuing to decline with one area plunging significantly, according to new data.
But the house price index from property research firm CoreLogic showed the housing market downturn had eased slightly. Monthly property values fell 0.6 percent in November compared with October's 1.3 percent fall.
Looking at the annual figures, prices were down 2.9 percent on this time last year.
CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall said house values would likely continue falling as interest rates increased.
"While these signs of moderation in falls will be encouraging to mortgage holders, we are cautious of it being a false dawn, with many sales transactions likely to have occurred before the recent round of pessimism hit the market, following the renewed expectations of increasing interest rates.
"Along with the expected 75 basis point increase in the OCR (official cash rate) came a very deliberate directive to consumers to 'prepare for more to come'. This included the consideration of a 100 basis point lift and a sharp increase in the forecast OCR track, now tipped to peak at 5.5 percent within six months, a 1.4 percentage point increase from only three months ago."
Property values dropped across most of New Zealand's areas in November, with Wellington experiencing the most substantial fall.
Prices in Porirua alone declined 4.7 percent for the month, 8.7 percent for the quarter and 16 percent for the year.
"That's the largest monthly and quarterly declines seen across any main urban area," Goodall said.
On the whole, the Wellington region declined 2.2 percent for the month to an average value of $937,870.
In Auckland, property prices slid to $1.36 million in November - down 0.6 percent from the previous month.
Looking at New Zealand's other main centres, prices dropped in all regions in November except for Christchurch (no change) and Dunedin (up 0.3 percent).
Seller hesitancy persists - realestate.co.nz
House-seller hesitancy continued across New Zealand with new listings experiencing another significant drop, a new property report by realestate.co.nz showed.
When compared with November last year, new listings were down 26 percent.
Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said rising interest rates were impacting Kiwis' ability to lend money.
"As a result, we have seen house prices trend downwards, likely impacting those looking to sell," she said in a statement.
The biggest drops in listing numbers were in Auckland (down 39.8 percent), Gisborne (32.9 pct) and Wellington (24.7 pct).
Realestate.co.nz logged New Zealand's national average asking price at just below $900,000, down nearly 10 percent since January.
