23 Market Activity The protracted nature of the Government coalition negotiations appeared to have further stalled NZ’s property market, with market activity staying restrained right through to mid-October. Nationwide valuation numbers are currently trending sideways (at best) and the performance of our main centres is mixed. Although all areas are down on the same time last year, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin show some signs of climbing out of their winter lows, but the same can’t be said for Auckland, Tauranga or Christchurch just yet. October’s sales volumes are likely to remain low, following on from an already weak month of sales volumes in September. Market Activity Index Latest 3 Weeks Year-on-Year Percentage change Auckland -34% Hamilton City -27% Tauranga City -27% Wellington Region -26% Christchurch City -26% Dunedin City -25% This market activity is based on the number of automated valuations run by bank staff using our systems each week. This number of valuations correlates very closely to the number of sales that will subsequently occur so this is an extremely timely measure of buyer demand, more than any measure of sales. We can also track across any geographic area.