Median property prices in New Zealand are forecast to increase about 6 per cent this year as the country's real estate market experiences its sixth consecutive year of steady growth.
Max Oliver, national vice- president of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, said the property market had been growing about 100 per cent every eight years.
He said the median price of homes had increased 9.06 per cent last year after rising 9.9 per cent in 1995. In April, the median price for homes in a comparison of 16 areas throughout the country was NZ$162,500 (HK$869,375) - up from $149,000 last year and $135,500 in 1995.
The rise came at a time when sales dropped during the month. A total of 8,080 homes were sold in April at a cost of $1.54 billion, compared to 8,219 in March. A year ago, 8,371 homes were sold for $1.518 billion.
Mr Oliver said the Northland region was the most active as home prices had increased a median $17,000 in the past year to $130,000.
'That area will continue to grow as the trend has been for people to sell their homes in Auckland for a good profit and then retire up north where they buy beach houses. There has also been a lot of new sub-divisions which have added to the growth,' he said.