South Island house prices lifting faster: QV

The direction property prices are heading depends a lot on which island you live in, data firm QV says.

The South Island has been stronger economically, and in property market terms, for some time but QV's latest update said the divergence had become more stark.

All of the North Island's main urban areas recorded a drop in values in the quarter.

Some of the biggest drops ranged from to 1.6 percent in Auckland to 2.9 percent in Rotorua.

In the South Island, most areas' values were flat or rising. Only Nelson and Timaru recorded small falls. Christchurch was up 0.6 percent in the quarter and Queenstown lifted 2.6 percent.

"At a national level, the housing market is still going backwards - just more slowly now. But it's not moving in unison. The national figure hides a pretty clear divide between the two islands," spokesperson Simon Petersen said.

"While much of the North Island remains stuck in the same old holding pattern, with buyers generally having plenty of choice and little reason to rush, parts of the South Island are recording some relatively steady growth."

"Housing markets are local. We do tend to talk about national averages and that sort of thing but it's natural for the market not to move in unison."

He said the average value on a national basis was now 2.2 percent lower than at the start of the year.

"There's still time for the market to make up some ground before Christmas - but based on its current trajectory it would take a fairly sharp turnaround for average values to finish the year ahead of where they started.

"That's not the case across much of the South Island, of course, where home values in most markets are already pulling ahead."

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