House prices creep up a little more

The Real Estate Institute's figures show although pricing remained strong in November, sales volumes eased and the number of days it took to sell a house crept up slightly

The national median house price was $355,000 in November, unchanged from October, according to the institute. The volume of sales edged down 0.6% to 6,056 having jumped from just 4,279 sold in November 2008.

"The residential property sales market has remained steady and I believe it will firm even further as the economy recovers," said REINZ president Peter McDonald.

The median price is now 5.2% higher than in November 2008 and investors say the resurgent property market probably helped convince Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard to last week bring forward the timing of increases in the official cash rate. In the latest monetary policy statement he said hikes to the official cash rate could begin in mid-2010.

The national median days to sell rose to 33 in November from 31 in the previous month, REINZ said. Days to sell were 44 in November 2008. Median values have climbed in nine out of 12 districts compared to November 2008.

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