Latest figures from state-owned housing valuer Quotable Value suggest the housing market in New Zealand is starting to pick up.
Quotable Value figures show house prices nationwide fell by 8.9% in the year to February, but the average sale price is steady at $383,786.
The data follows an announcement last week by Auckland real estate company Barfoot & Thompson that its higher listings for February suggest the city's housing market is on the way up again.
Quotable Value says investors are returning to the market and there are more sales and listings, but buyers are still showing considerable caution.
It says low mortgage interest rates and the low dollar will help the market as it approaches the traditionally slow winter months.
Quotable Value spokesperson Blue Hancock says more listings, sales and genuine buyer interest are definite signs of increased market activity, though he points out that the slump has not quite been and gone.
Mr Hancock says the only real negative is job uncertainty, which is holding back buyers from taking out home loans.
Building work down
Meanwhile, the volume of residential building work put in place in the final quarter of last year recorded the sharpest fall in almost a decade.
It fell 13.4%, a fall partially offset by a slight increase in non-residential work, to result in a drop in overall construction for the period of 6.5%.
Residential construction has fallen for the past five consecutive quarters, and ASB economist Jane Turner says there are no signs it will improve in the near future.
Ms Turner says falling house prices, combined with rising unemployment and economic uncertainty, are reducing the incentives for people to build houses.
During 2008, $7.3 billion of residential building work was put in place, while non-residential work totalled $5.2 billion.
