Cuts in interest rates lift housing market

But we have entered a riskier stage of the housing cycle, says ASB chief economist Anthony Byett.

Turnover figures from the real estate industry and ASB's own operations showed the market to be very active, Byett said, and the historically high proportion of survey respondents expecting house prices to rise, a net 54 per cent, was consistent with a further 2.5 to 3 per cent rise in the June quarter.

The flipside of rising house prices (21 per cent over the past two years nationwide) is that although more respondents still think it is a good time to buy rather than a bad one, the gap is the smallest it has been for five years, a net 14 per cent.

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