House price expectations drop: poll

There has been a big drop in the number of people expecting house prices to rise in the next months, according to latest poll from the Property Institute of New Zealand.

The latest poll, which confirmed recent figures from REINZ and Barfoot Thompson, revealed the number of people expecting house prices to rise in the next six months went down to 43%, the lowest level since November last year.

With more people becoming less bullish about house prices, a definite trend appears to be developing, Property Institute chief executive Ashley Church said.

"Our June poll shows that the number of people expecting house prices to increase in the next six months has dropped 12% since our last poll in April and now sits at 40%.”

“Meanwhile, the number of people expecting prices to stabilise is up 4% to 40%.”

An indicator that the vast majority still aren’t buying into the idea of a market correction, according to Church is the 5% to 12% up in the number of people expecting decrease in house prices.

In the past eight months, a significant drop of 13% was seen from some 56% of people who were expecting house prices to keep rising.

The poll revealed women (46%) are more likely than men (34%) to expect prices to remain unchanged while a fewer women (38%) then men (50%) think surge in prices will continue.

In Auckland and Wellington, both at 37%, the expectation of house price increases was considerably lower than in other parts of the country.