National property values have continued to gradually rise according to the QV residential property index for September.

"Nationwide property values have been gradually increasing for the past six months and are now 0.7 percent above the same time last year and 4.6 percent below the market peak of 2007" said Jonno Ingerson, Research Director QV.co.nz.

"Much of the nationwide increase over the past few months can be attributed to Auckland and to a lesser extent Christchurch. Values across the rest of the country have varied" said Ingerson.

"Values in the Auckland area have increased 3.7 percent since January, and are now 3.4 percent above the same time last year. As a result of these recent increases, values are now 0.6 percent above the previous market peak of late 2007" said Ingerson.

"The old Auckland City continues to have the fastest increasing values within the Super City having increased 5.4 percent since January, and 4.6 percent over the past year. Values are now 2.6 percent higher than the 2007 market peak. North Shore has increased 3.0 percent over the past year, Waitakere 2.3 and Manukau 1.9 percent" said Ingerson.

"There are also signs that the market may be turning in other areas also. Values in Hamilton edged up very slightly over the past month after being flat for several months and are now only 1.2 percent below last year. In Tauranga values have been gradually rising for several months now and as a result values are only 0.1 percent below last year. Both Hamilton and Tauranga are still nearly 12 percent below the market peak" said Ingerson.

"Dunedin continues to be volatile but rises in the last month mean that values are now only 2.0 percent below last year. In contrast to Hamilton and Tauranga a strong recovery in values in Dunedin during 2009 means that current values are only 7.1 percent below the peak despite falling gradually for most of this year" said Ingerson.

Ingerson said "values in the Wellington area had been declining since January, but appear to have levelled off in the last couple of months and as a result are now only 1.1 percent below the same time last year. Wellington remains 7.6 percent below the 2007 market peak."

"In Christchurch values continue to steadily increase, particularly in the Northern and Western suburbs. As a result of values increasing since January, they are now 2.1 percent above the same time last year. The areas surrounding Christchurch have also continued to increase in value for several months and as a result Selwyn is 5.3 percent above the same time last year, and Waimakariri 2.8 percent up" said Ingerson.

Ingerson said "despite a slight seasonal increase in listings in many areas, there has been little increase in sales activity over the past few months. Many buyers and sellers remain cautious, and the developing European economic crisis has begun to affect business and consumer confidence."

While unrelated to the QV index, and a less reliable measure of value change, the average New Zealand sales price over the last three months is $402,150.

There is considerable variability across the provincial centres. Whangarei, Rotorua, Gisborne and Invercargill have all risen in value over the past three months but are down compared to last year by -3.7 percent in Whangarei, -1.9 in Rotorua, -1.0 in Gisborne and -2.8 percent in Invercargill. Hastings (-2.1 percent compared to last year), Napier (-1.2), New Plymouth (-3.5) and Wanganui ( 7.8) have all fallen further below last year after decreasing in value over the past three months. Palmerston North, Nelson and Queenstown Lakes have all increased in value slightly over the past three months and are above last year by 0.1 percent in Palmerston North, 1.3 in Nelson and 0.8 in Queenstown Lakes.