Auckland house prices dropped $20,000 last month

The Herald reports:

The median Auckland house sale price dropped $20,000 last month, according to the Real Estate Institute out this morning, following Barfoot & Thompson sales data which also showed the same trend.

The latest REINZ figures showed the Auckland region’s median price fell from $755,000 to June to $735,000 last month, down 2.65 per cent.

Shouldn’t read too much into a monthly change, but if it continued for another couple of months that might indicate the bubble is bursting.

Later this year the new tax rules for investment properties take effect, and also the Reserve Bank’s stricter lending rations for Auckland and for property investors. They may have an impact also – or may even be impacting already.

UPDATE: Once again Labour’s curse may have worked. They declare something to be a crisis, and it immediately improves.