Record Auckland, Canterbury house prices in best sales for six years

Median house prices in Auckland, Canterbury/Westland and Nelson/Marlborough rose to a record last month, in the best national sales for May in six years, he Real Estate Institute says.

The median price in Auckland rose to $565,000 last month from $555,000 in April, the biggest gain of any region. Auckland prices also rose 2 percent to a new record high based on the REINZ Stratified Median Housing Price Index, the Reserve Bank's preferred measure that strips out distortions in the data.

The figures were released as both Housing Minister Nick Smith and Auckland Council appear before the parliament's social services select committee, which is considering a bill that would free up land for housing in New Zealand's biggest city, which currently lags behind demand and has fanned prices.

"There are too few houses coming to market in the Auckland region, creating an imbalance between supply and demand and driving up house prices at both the regional and national level," REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan says.

"The low level of new builds is well below trend, making little impact on the available stock of residential properties for sale."

The Reserve Bank is considering limits on high loan-to-value home mortgages among measures to take the heat out of the property market, which it says could pose a significant risk to country's financial stability.

Nationally, house sales rose 7.5 percent in May from a year earlier to 7714, the highest for that month in six years, while the median house price rose 0.4 percent from April to $392,000, a gain of 6.2 percent from May 2012.

The REINZ Stratified Median Housing Price Index rose 0.7 percent from April to a record, having gained 8.7 percent from a year earlier.

Days to sell rose to 35 in May from 34 in April, but down from 38 in May last year.

The median house price for Canterbury/Westland rose to a record $360,000 in May from $353,000 in April, while Nelson/Marlborough recorded a record median price of $353,625.

(BusinessDesk)