ASB’s quarterly survey of the housing market has found that the expectation of house prices rising has dramatically jumped up again, especially for Auckland.

Throughout the country, it is said that around 44% of those asked were expecting higher prices; that figure is up from 33% last year. A further 19% of those asked believed that prices would fall; down from 25% last year.

The survey found that the expected increase is particularly strong in Auckland, with a total of 42% expecting property prices to increase there. That number has more than doubled last year’s figure of 20%.

There has also been an increase in the number of people who are expecting the interest rate to rise. Last year those that were expecting a rise made up 34%, as opposed to this year’s figure of 46%.

Nick Tuffley, chief economist for ASB said “The Auckland housing market remains tighter relative to other regions…This is reflected across a range of measures, including the relatively shorter average number of days to sell and the low number of houses on the market. Auckland is already becoming a sellers’ market.”

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