Signs point up, ANZ report says

The bank has released its latest Property Focus report.

It said mortgage approval numbers and values had ticked up over the past few weeks, building on an October lift. 

“Approval numbers in mid-November are about where they were a year ago and around 15% below historical averages, with values some 13% higher than a year ago.”

Sales, as reported by REINZ, rebounded 7.3% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in October, the strongest monthly increase since last July..

The 10 gauges the bank uses to predict house prices are a mixed bag.

House price gains are putting pressure on affordability and servicing as a proportion of income has hit a 2.5 year high, which could point to lower prices in future.

But while interest rates are higher than they were at the start of the year, fixed rates have fallen recently and  do not look set to go as high as they were predicted to earlier in the year. Immigration is still at record levels and listing levels have eased.

On balance, the economists said the market was the most buoyant it had been since the LVR limits took effect a year ago.

Rents were reported as being steady. After a dip in July, they had returned to the level measured in the first six months of the year, the report said.

The national rental yield of about 4% is half what it was in the early 1990s.

Auckland's rental yield is below the national average, at about 3.8%, despite a reported housing shortage.