By Charlotte Greenfield
WELLINGTON: New Zealand house prices rose in October, the government property valuer said on Tuesday, though the rate of growth was slowing.
Quotable Value’s (QV) residential property price index increased 12.7 percent in the year to October, compared with an annual rate of 14.3 percent in the previous month.
The index is now 50.2 percent above the market’s previous peak in late 2007, and QV said growth was slowing due to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s restrictions on lending coming into effect.
House prices in the Auckland region were 13.8 percent higher in the year to October, compared with a 15 percent rise the month before.
The central bank announced new rules requiring people buying for investment purposes to have a 40 percent deposit in July. Though the rules did not come into force until October, banks had agreed to act in accordance with the ‘spirit’ of the regulations until then.
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
Source: Reuters