2019.06.1400:26:00UTC+00New Zealand House Sales Fall, Prices Rise: REINZ

New Zealand residential property sales declined in May, but prices increased from last year, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said Friday.

The number of residential properties sold in May declined 7.8 percent annually to 7,263. However, on a monthly basis, sales surged 20.1 percent.

Excluding Auckland, house sales decreased 1.4 percent on year in May but grew 22.8 percent from previous month.

While the number of properties sold across the country was lower than the same time last year it's actually the highest number of properties sold in 2019 so far, Bindi Norwell, REINZ CEO, said.

However, given new listings have been down across the country for six of the last seven months now when compared to the same time last year, it's not entirely surprising that the number of properties sold is down on the same time last year, Norwell added.

Median house prices advanced 3.2 percent year-on-year to NZ$578,000 in May. Excluding Auckland, prices were up 7.2 percent. On month, overall house prices fell 0.3 percent.