Property values which have slipped for the first time in a year will continue to vary in the way they change across the country, a researcher at property valuer QV.co.nz says.
Average value property values slipped slightly in March, but sale prices are still up 0.5% over the past three months, and the average sale price has risen 3% in the past year, to $402,317.
However, the sale prices are still lagging 3% below the market peak set in late 2007.
QV research director Jonno Ingerson says he doesn't think the overall price will drop dramatically.
It is too early to say whether the drop represents a change in direction for the market, but regional prices will be mixed.
"Expectations that in Auckland prices will continue to increase over coming months, and the same for Christchurch," Mr Ingerson said. "In Christchurch you've got a lot of pressure on those undamaged parts of the region - that should push prices up.
"The rest of the main centres ... are beginning to vary a little bit.
"We're now starting to see some flattening and some beginning to drop. Other main centres, as well as a lot of the provincial and rural centres are going to whatever is happening in the local economies there, and that does vary quite a bit across the country".
