Prices and costs

House prices, building costs, homeownership and rental costs.

House prices

New Zealand median house prices continue to increase, but slowed to an annual rate of 8 percent in October 2007.

Annual increase in house prices (all New Zealand).
^{Source: Quotable Value Limited}

The median number of days it takes to sell a house was 34 days in October 2007 compared to 29 days in October 2006 (Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ)). In October 2007, 6,854 dwellings were sold with a total value of 2.83 billion.

The median price reported by REINZ was $350,000 in October 2007.

Building costs

The Statistics New Zealand Capital Goods Price Index shows that inflation in the cost of building and construction peaked for residential buildings in the September 2004 quarter at an annual rate of 10.2 percent; and for non-residential buildings in the December 2004 quarter at an annual rate of 10 percent. By September 2007 these rapid rates had slowed to 4.8 percent for residential buildings, 1.7 percent for non-residential buildings and 3.6 percent for other construction (including roads and infrastructure).

These increases for residential buildings and other construction were faster than the overall capital goods price inflation, which stood at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in September 2007.

Cost of Building and Construction (Annual percentage increase).
^{Source: Statistics New Zealand}

Homeownership and rental costs

The costs of accommodation continued to increase in the September 2007 quarter.

The Statistics New Zealand Rent Survey indicates rents rose by 3.1 percent in the year to September 2007. Since March 2007, the increase has exceeded general inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

In comparison, the cost of purchasing new housing as measured by the Consumer Price Index rose by 5.8 percent in the year to September 2007.

Consumer Price Index and cost of purchase of new housing and renting.
^{Source: Statistics New Zealand}