NZ: Housing market remains steady - Westpac

Dominick Stephens, Chief Economist at Westpac, explains that the latest housing market data from the REINZ and others suggests that the Auckland market has perked up slightly, but on average across New Zealand the market remains steady, characterised by slowly rising prices.

Key Quotes

“The REINZ and news outlets are emphasising an apparent paucity of sales last month. We are not so sure about that. The REINZ data systematically understates the number of sales in the latest month. This is because not all sales are immediately reported to the REINZ. Late-reported sales are added to the historical record after the data is initially released.”

“After adjusting for this bias in the data and seasonally adjusting, we estimate that house sales dropped 1.3% compared to August 2018, and are 1.8% lower than a year ago. Nothing to get excited about, really.”