Otago's housing sector appears to be finishing the year with a more than 30% bounce to month-on-month sales, albeit with flat prices.
Investor numbers in Dunedin are reported to have halved, while in Queenstown median prices plunged by $80,000 to $870,000 from October to November, as a ''nervous'' market absorbs the potential effects of government housing policies.
Otago's 32.3% gain in sales from 341 to 451 in November was third largest percentage gain in the country, behind Nelson's 34.7% and Canterbury's 33.8%, but Otago was not in the top seven regions which all booked record median prices.
Otago's $410,000 median price for November was unchanged from October but otherwise up 17% on November last year, data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand showed yesterday.
REINZ regional commentator Liz Nidd said there were about 50% fewer investors around in Dunedin compared with a year ago.
''This is fuelled by the uncertainty in the market over all of the upcoming changes from the new government,'' Mrs Nidd said.
REINZ regional director in Queenstown Gail Hudson said ''the new government has both buyers and sellers nervous''.
''The market is showing some signs of slowing as median prices in Queenstown and Wanaka are down slightly from October's figures,'' Mrs Hudson said.
She said the ''top end'' of the market seemed ''unfazed'' as they had cash in the bank and were wealthy individuals in their own right.
ASB economist Kim Mundy said the higher sales activity was providing some support to prices, but the activity was below recent highs.
She predicted sales activity and price growth in 2018 would ''remain subdued'', given the uncertainty around Labour's investor-focused housing policies.
''We've been expecting that uncertainty around the impact of new housing polices on the market is likely to continue to weigh on activity and prices for some time,'' Ms Mundy said.
Mrs Hudson said an easing in the loan to value ratio (LVR) restrictions of the Reserve Bank ''might help'' the market, but she did not believe it would have a significant impact.
Across the country the number of properties sold in November increased 17.8% from October - the largest October to November rise in six years, but year-on-year November housing numbers declined 8.8% from 7565 to 6893.
The median national price for November rose 3.8% from last year to $540,000.
Against a year ago, the number of properties for sale nationally in November increased by 7.6%, from 25,538 to 27,488.
Around Otago, month-on-month there were large gains properties sold, up from between 25% to almost 60%, but when measured against November last year all but one of the five districts were down on the number of properties sold.
Mrs Nidd said:
''For the first time in many months it feels like there is some more choice for buyers.''
