New Zealand's fastest house price growth is no longer found in Auckland.

QV has released its latest House Price Index, which shows that, nationwide, residential properties increased in value by 14.3 per cent in the year to September.

Values rose almost 5 per cent over the past three months.

MARY-JO TOHILL/FAIRFAX NZ Other parts of New Zealand are now experiencing house price rises that far outpace those recorded in Auckland.

But while Auckland prices were up 15 per cent, year-on-year, other centres achieved much faster growth.

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Among those outpacing our biggest city were Wellington, up 21.2 per cent, Hamilton 27.1 per cent, Tauranga 28.1 per cent, Hastings 17.8 per cent, Napier 18.1 per cent and Whakatane 22 per cent.

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Wellington has had a subdued property market until recently, but QV homevalue general manager David Nagel said demand had picked up strongly, particularly in the cheaper end of the market.

He said some first-home buyers were missing out as investors came out in force. There had been a drop in sales to first-home buyers and an increase in the proportion going to investors.

"Investor housing stock has become really scarce and we are seeing big numbers vying for limited stock at auctions. We are also seeing high clearance rates at auctions and buyers are acting on a fear of missing out and stretching their budgets in order to secure properties," he said.



"Multi-unit investment type properties are very popular and are being snapped up quickly and values for these types of properties have risen by as much as 50 per cent over the past 18 months to three years."

But QV noted there were signs that some of the frenzied activity of recent months had started to calm in other centres.

Spokeswoman Andrea Rush said there had been a clear slowdown in activity and demand in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga since new lending restrictions were introduced for investors.

Banks now require a 40 per cent deposit from investors throughout the country. Previously, Auckland investors had required a 30 per cent deposit and those in other parts of the country could away with 20 per cent or sometimes less.

In Hamilton, valuer Stephen Hare said there were fewer buyers at open homes and fewer properties selling under the hammer.

"This appears to be due to there being fewer investors active in the market since the introduction of the new loan-to-value restrictions which are definitely having an impact, in that we are seeing less competition and it's likely this will result in a slow-down in the rate of growth in the market," Hare said.

In Tauranga, a similar situation was reported.

"Investors are still adapting to the new rules and the strong demand from buyers has stopped as suddenly as a 'tap being turned off' according to some industry professionals," valuer David Hume said. "It remains to be seen how these new rules will affect the market in the long term.



"Agents report buyer inquiries are down by 30 per cent and listings are up by around 20 per cent due to the arrival of spring so this is leading to a reduction in competition in the market."

Christchurch's market is still increasing at much slower pace, up 4.4 per cent year-on-year and 0.9 per cent overt the past three months.