House prices in Wellington are down nearly 19% from last year, as property values around the country continue to fall, the latest data from Quotable Value shows.
The latest QV House Price Index shows home values fell further from January to November this year than they have in more than 15 years.
The average price of a house nationwide is now about $945,568 - 10.2% lower than at the start of 2022.
In the three months to November, prices dropped by 2.9% nationally, compared to a 3.9% reduction in the quarter to the end of October.
However, house prices aren't yet back to pre-pandemic levels; in 2021, values climbed by nearly 30%.
Capital plunge
Wellington saw the steepest decline in house prices so far this year, with an 18.7% drop since January. Average home values in the capital are now about $883,900, compared to November 2021 when it was $1,086,400.
QV registered valuer Blake Ngarimu said further declines were likely.
"The end of the fall is still unknown, especially following the Reserve Bank's most recent hike of the Official Cash Rate.
"It's signalled further increases next year, with interest rates likely to follow, which will make servicing a mortgage in the current cost of living crisis even more difficult."
Adrian Orr told MPs the power was in the hands of the people to help stifle inflation. (Source: 1News)
Palmerston North had the next biggest drop in house prices this year, which fell 14.5%, followed by Hastings at 12.5% and Auckland at 12.2%.
QV chief operating officer David Nagel said the last time the country had seen similar trends in house prices was after the Global Financial Crisis.
"But that was an entirely different kettle of fish to what we’re going through right now.
"For one thing, the market was behaving in a generally orderly fashion until that point, with gradual, sustainable growth – whereas the growth we saw during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic was far from gradual and sustainable," he said.
“It's been a crazy couple of years in real estate with massive growth followed by a pretty significant correction."
Nagel said the average rate of decline was slowing in the lead-up to Christmas.
"With talk of a recession being bandied about now, we can expect further downward pressure on prices well into 2023 before we might eventually see the market bottom out later in the year."
Queenstown, at 5.4%, was the only city that saw prices increase.
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