Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Property valuer believes house prices stabilising

Updated at 4:18 pm on 9 March 2011

Property valuer Quotable Value says house prices appear to be stabilising, but there is considerable variability throughout New Zealand.

QV says house values dropped 1.7% in February compared with the same month last year, but were slightly higher than in January.

Research director Jonno Ingerson says, overall, the property market is subdued with lower than normal numbers of listings and sales, but there are pockets of the market which remain active.

He says values across Auckland have increased in the past month, while those across the wider Wellington area have remained steady.

Mr Ingerson says values in Hamilton and Tauranga are, by contrast, steadily declining.

QV says it is too early to tell how the Christchurch earthquake in February will affect the values of relatively undamaged houses there.

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