July House Price Index illustrates market resilience

July House Price Index illustrates property market resilience post-COVID

According to the July 2020 QV House Price Index (HPI) results out today, property values recorded a marginal increase, up 0.2% over the month. This is somewhat of a turnaround from June, after the national index edged 0.2% lower.

In these variable times, the three month measure of the index is illustrating a more complete picture of value movements across the country, with nationwide values inching up only 0.4% over the slightly longer period, which begins around the time NZ moved out of lockdown level four – when it was very difficult to transact property.

Across the main centres the general pattern of values plateauing since the strict level four lockdown is also evident. Value change since 1 May has ranged from -0.3% in Dunedin to 0.9% in Hamilton, with Tauranga the key outlier at 2.5% growth over that time.

Strong momentum leading into lockdown saw Tauranga’s property values continuing to grow while many others faltered, however the latest couple of months have seen that momentum dissipate too, with values in Tauranga steadying (+0.2%) since 1 June.

As New Zealand emerges from the previous lockdown, a new sense of optimism as emerged, but tempered with a note of caution as to what the near-term future holds. The significant support provided by the Government and retail banks, in the form of wage subsidies and mortgage deferrals, don’t have too much longer to run and while there have been discussions about support being extended, it seems more likely to happen in the event of a local COVID-19 outbreak.

See attached for full results.

https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/2008/July_2020_QV_House_Price_Index_4_August_2020.pdf

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