NZ Real Estate- Sales fall in January

Xmas anomoly or downwards turn? Today the US reported a strong downturn also.

The property market continued to grind down in January with monthly sales volumes falling to a five year low.
There were just 6360 sales in January, down from 6906 in December, and 7071 in January last year.
REINZ national president Howard Morley said it was the lowest level of sales for January since 2001.
"The market is definitely a lot more sluggish than at the end of last year, however how much of that is attributable to the holiday break and how much is to do with rising interest rates is hard to say," he said.
Morley said activity in February and March would give a clearer picture of where the market was likely to head in 2006. He said the fall in sales was most pronounced in houses under $400,000, with 4666 sales in that category - 1000 less than last January.
Despite the sales slowdown, prices picked up slightly, returning to the record high of $300,000 hit in November, after falling to $295,000 in December.
REINZ said market prices were 13.2% higher than January last year, when the national median price was $265,000.
Of the 12 regions, five posted higher median prices while six had falls.
Northland fell to $275,000 from $290,000 in December, while Auckland's regional median fell to $370,000 from $395,000.
Manawatu/Wanganui fell to $180,000 from $184,500, while Wellington eased to $313,000 from $316,000. Nelson/Marlborough slipped $1000 to $280,000, and Southland fell to $124,250 from $140,000. On the upside Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne's median house price rose to $272,000 from $269,000 and Hawke's Bay was up at $255,000 from $251,000.
Canterbury/Westland rose to $267,000 from $263,000.
Central Otago Lakes rose to $499,500 from $490,000. Otago rose $1000 to $206,000.
Taranaki was unchanged at $230,000.