Welcome to Key Real Estate's monthly Property Report. We'll look at properties for sale in Rotorua, the Bay of Plenty and across the country for March 2021 compared to prior periods. 

The national median house price hit a record high in March, increasing from $665,000 in March last year to $826,300 - a gain of 24.3% and a new all-time high. Another impressive result, continuing the strong results we saw in our previous Rotorua Property Report.

Bay of Plenty's median price increased 24.5% annually to reach $822,000. However, it does represent a slight cooling from February's $848,250. The Rotorua District reached a record median price of $650,000, up 35.4% annually from $480,000.

National sales volume was up 32.1% year-on-year and 17.5% since last month. Trends were solid in the Bay of Plenty, with sales up 20.1% and 39% in Rotorua year-on-year - the highest increase in activity in the region.

Wendy Alexander, Acting Chief Executive at REINZ, commented on New Zealand's house price, sales activity and impact of the new LVR restrictions. "March was another incredibly strong month from a price perspective with 12 regions and 32 districts across the country seeing record median prices. The national median also reached a new record, increasing by $46,300 since last month, showing just how much pressure has been placed on house prices and how we desperately need more supply to come to the market."

"Additionally, we're seeing houses sell at their fastest pace in a March."

"Looking forward over the next couple of months, we would expect house prices to continue rising, but we hope this will be at a slower pace than we've seen over the last 6 to 12 months. Hopefully the re-implementation of the LVRs, changes in government policy and the move towards winter will slow the rate of growth down a little, but only time will tell what effect they will have." 

Neville Falconer, REINZ Regional Director, had the following comments on the Bay of Plenty region. "Supply levels continue to be an issue for the region with a decrease of -7.8% in new listings from the same time last year, and a -32.9% decrease in available stock, leaving just 7 weeks of available inventory. Low levels of stock and high levels of demand have resulted in strong competition for good properties and therefore the median number of days to sell have dropped 4 days from the same time last year to 28 days, the lowest level for a March month on record."

Remember to have a look at our current listings for all of our properties for sale in Rotorua.