A majority of New Zealanders think it's a bad time to buy a house as fewer people expect prices to keep rising and more expect interest rates to rise - ASB Housing Confidence Survey

Fewer people expect house prices to keep rising and more people think it's a bad time to buy a house than think it's a good time to buy, according to ASB's latest Housing Confidence Survey.

The survey, carried out over the three months to April, found that the number of people expecting higher house prices fell to it's lowest level in five years, with 53% of respondents expecting prices to keep rising, down from 56% in the previous quarter.

The biggest drop was in Christchurch, where the number of respondents expecting prices to rise dropped from 44% to 32%.

"Slowing housing activity has seen house price growth ease (or fall slightly) in a number of regions," ASB said in its report on the survey results.

"As a result, ongoing weak housing market activity has continued to weigh on respondents' house price expectations this quarter.

"Interestingly however, the sharpest drop in respondents' expecting house price gains was Christchurch.

"Christchurch's housing market is rebalancing after a surge of supply following the earthquakes, which has resulted in subdued house price growth in the city."

There was also a jump in the number of people expecting interest rates to rise, with 54% expecting them to rise and only 3% expecting them to fall.

It was the first time a majority of the survey's respondents have expected interest rates to rise since October 2014.

Overall, the survey found that a majority of people believe it's a bad time to buy a house, but there were regional differences.

In Auckland slightly fewer people thought it was bad time to buy than in the previous survey, most likely due to the increased number of homes being listed for sale in the region.

But in the rest of the country, the number of people who thought it was a bad time buy, increased.

"While price expectations may have dipped, historically high house prices, higher deposit requirements and expectations for further interest rate increases are likely to be weighing on sentiment," the report said.

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