Not everyone's enjoying a house price boom

Last week's column noted that Quo table Value estimated house prices had risen 22 per cent in the year to March.

Yet home owners in New Zealand's biggest suburb, Wellington's Karori, don't seem to be enjoying the boom. There, prices have risen by a modest 6.9 per cent in the year to May – from $385,350 to $413,000, according to Real Estate Institute figures.

This suggests that people in Wellington's western suburbs have reason to be grumpy. They appear to be paying rising mortgage rates as the Reserve Bank battles soaring house price rises in other parts of the country.

Real Estate figures show that in the same period the average house price in Timaru jumped by more than a third – from $95,000 to $145,000. Those in Hamilton City also beat Karori, rising from $175,500 to $217,000. Home owners in areas of especially high demand, such as Nelson, have had bigger increases.

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