NZ: House price inflation continued to accelerate in December – Westpac

Satish Ranchhod, senior economist at Westpac, notes that New Zealand’s house price inflation continued to accelerate in December with widespread gains and their long held forecast for 7% house price inflation looks like it could be achieved even sooner than expected.

Key Quotes

“The December housing market update from the REINZ confirmed Westpac’s long held view that currently low interest rates would see house prices rocketing upwards.”

“Based on our seasonal adjustment, house prices rose 1.2% in December with widespread gains.”

“December’s increase continued the run of strong gains we’ve seen in recent months, leaving nationwide house prices up 6.6% over the past year.”

“We’ve been forecasting that house price inflation would pick up by about 7% by April of this year. Today’s data suggest house price growth could reach that level even earlier than we had expected.”