WELLINGTON: New Zealand house prices rose and sales hit their highest in more than four years on a monthly basis in March, the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) said on Monday.
The REINZ's house price index rose 1.9 percent on the previous month, and was up 4.2 percent on the same month a year earlier, driven by gains in the country's biggest city, Auckland, and the earthquake hit Christchurch.
"Prices are certainly not rising sharply, but the trend is certainly starting to move upwards," said chief executive Helen O'Sullivan in a statement.
The house price index was 1.1 percent below its peak.
REINZ said its members sold 7,330 houses during the month, up a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent on the previous month, but 25 percent on a year ago. It was the highest number of sales for a month since November 2007.
The number of days to sell a house fell to 35 days from 46 days in February.
The median house sale price, which is different from the index, hit a record at NZ$370,000 ($303,279) up 1.4 percent from a year ago.
The housing market has started to show signs of improvement after being sluggish for much of 2011 on the back of weak domestic consumption, slow wage growth and uncertain economic outlook.
Prices in Auckland, the country's biggest population and commercial centre, have been sitting at record levels in recent months, and earthquake hit Christchurch has seen firmer prices as would be-buyers hunt undamaged houses.
"Outside of the Auckland and Canterbury regions most of the country is seeing an upward trend in sales volumes, although price gains outside of these centres are relatively modest," O'Sullivan said.
Last week, government agency Quotable Value's monthly report showed prices steady in March, but up around 3 percent on the year before with signs that first time buyers are coming back into the market.
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