House prices in Christchurch and much of Canterbury are flattening off as the city's housing market stays quiet.
Despite the arrival of spring, figures on listings, values and prices all indicate a lack of market heat.
Listings website realestate.co.nz said the number of new listings in Canterbury during September was 15 per cent lower than in September last year. The average asking price was $471,000, down 2.5 per cent from the previous month.
The Real Estate Institute's latest report put Canterbury's median house sale price at $420,000 for August, down from a record high of $435,000 in May.
Christchurch's median price was $435,750, down nearly $20,000 from a high of $455,000 in May but slightly higher than a year ago.
Christchurch real estate agent David Blackwell, of Total Realty, said prices had "flattened a bit".
"We haven't had the usual spring rush. Buyers are taking more time, but there are still a few of them out there."
Blackwell hoped activity would pick up when the school holidays ended in just over a week.
In the latest monthly report from the Real Estate Institute, director Jim Davis said investors had been buying less actively in Canterbury while first home buyers had been more active.
He attributed this to the new mortgage deposit rules introduced by the Reserve Bank, which led banks to tighten lending.
Quotable Value's latest monthly report put average August values at $492,766 for Christchurch, $427,512 for Waimakariri district, and $555,546 for Selwyn.
QV spokesman Damian Kennedy said the city's market was "comparatively flat", with the new homes and subdivision market the only sector seeing much action.
"We saw asking prices reducing earlier in the year which have now stabilised. We have more new sections and homes coming on stream in substantive numbers," he said.
"There is a shortage of properties listed for sale in the market which is resulting in fewer sales and anecdotally, listings are around 30 per cent lower than they were this time last year."
QV calculated the city's average value in August was 3.5 per cent higher than a year ago, after rising until part-way through this year and then settling. The city's biggest rise in values was in the Port Hills suburbs, with an increase in the year to August of 6.6 per cent.
Kennedy said investors might be waiting to see if the market picket up again, and homeowners might be waiting for better weather.
"It's also possible people are choosing to stay put in their existing property, after a tumultuous few years following the major earthquakes."
Meanwhile, Statistics NZ said home building in Canterbury was down 13 per cent since a post-quake peak in late 2014, but remained at a historically high level.
Councils in the region handed out 568 consents for new homes during August. New homes cost an average of $343,000, excluding land.
A total of 330 of the new home consents were for Christchurch city, 51 for Waimakariri, 131 for Selwyn, 21 for Ashburton and 13 for Timaru.
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