The price of luxury keeps getting higher

In the past 13 months, a house in Karori has sold for $2.2 million, a three-bedroom apartment in Oriental Parade for $1.9 million, and a four-bedroom house in Lowry Bay, Eastbourne, sold for $1.8 million.

Real Estate Institute president Graeme Woodley said top-quality real estate was selling for record prices.

"There's no suggestion at all that the market has come back in its values – they have gone up and are continuing to. Prices would be at their highest levels ever."

There was high demand for properties with sea, lake or river views, and this trend had boosted prices for some houses around Wellington Harbour, the Kapiti Coast, Taupo, Hamilton and Napier.

In Taupo, a lakefront home at Five Mile Bay sold for $2.2 million last March and in Napier, a five-bedroom house in Balquidder Rd sold in December for $1.3 million. A house in Raumati, on the Kapiti Coast, sold last March for $920,000.

Wellington REINZ president Lisa Bidgood said the most sought-after houses in the capital had always sold for a premium.

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