The housing market’s slow but steady recovery continues, with value levels increasing across much of the Canterbury region, according to the latest QV House Price Index for January 2024.

Figures show residential property values have increased across the overall Canterbury region by 1.9 percent for the 12 months ending January 2024, making it an increase from the 0.2 percent growth shown for the 12-month period ending December 2023.

January’s quarterly figures show the region’s average home value increased by 2.9 percent. This is a small increase on the 2.3 percent growth recorded in the previous index, with all districts experiencing positive growth, except Mackenzie.

In Christchurch, the average home value increase was 3.4 percent this quarter, which is a sizeable increase on the 2.5 percent quarterly growth reported in the previous QV index. The average home value is now $765,104, which is 2.1 percent higher than the same time last year.

The wider Christchurch region also experienced positive growth this quarter, with the average value in the Waimakariri and Selwyn districts increasing by 1.6 percent to $711,750 and 2 percent to $838,606 respectively.

Local QV registered valuer Rod Thornton said, “With regards to Christchurch and surrounding districts the latest quarterly index figures are positive and reflect the latter months of 2023, when we saw a general trend of increased buyer interest and value increases following a slowdown of the market and easing of values around late 2022 and early 2023.”

“What the next few months will bring is unknown. However, the market since Christmas still appears to be in a positive mode despite higher interest rates and cost of living concerns still being present,” Thornton said.

Nationally, all bar one of New Zealand’s main centres recorded an average rise in home value this quarter.

Only Invercargill (-0.6 percent) posted a small average home value reduction this quarter, following six consecutive months of growth. Otherwise 10 of the 16 main urban areas QV monitors recorded more growth in this index than in the last one, with Queenstown (4.4 percent), Christchurch (3.4 percent), and Dunedin (3.1 percent) experiencing the largest gains on average this quarter.

QV operations manager James Wilson said the housing data continued to be volatile in some areas of the country where a relatively low number of sales had still been occurring.

“It doesn’t take much change in activity to increase or decrease the value performance of some of our less populous regions, but the overall trend is the housing market is slowly but surely strengthening,” Wilson said.

“Over the last few months there’s been a pretty major shift in mindset. Many prospective buyers are now thinking that things can only get a bit better this year when interest rates eventually reduce and interest deductibility is reintroduced for investors, so they’ve been cautiously returning to the market in slowly increasing numbers, trying to get ahead of any further price rises,” he said.