A collapse in net migration will create some breathing room for New Zealand’s white-hot housing market but don’t expect Waikato house prices to go stagnant, says a top economist. The average house price in Hamilton is now $712,717 according to the CoreLogic house price index for February – a 14.5 per cent increase on the year earlier. Uncertainty and disruption caused by Covid-19 initially led some economists to predict a fall in house prices in 2020. “Now that’s a lot slower, but it’s still a considerable amount of growth coming through for house prices,” he said. A lift in the farm gate milk price will inject “quite a few millions of dollars” into the Waikato economy.

Source: Stuff March 05, 2021 04:10 UTC