WELLINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - New Zealand house prices rose in December the government property valuer said on Wednesday, but growth was slowing as the central bank's macroprudential tools curbed investor buying.
Quotable Value's (QV) residential property price index rose 12.5 percent in the year to December, compared with an annual rate of 12.4 percent in the previous month.
The index is now 51.5 percent above the market's previous peak in late 2007.
Encouragingly for the central bank, which has raised concerns over the country's booming house prices, there were tentative signs of a cooling in Auckland, which has been the epicentre of home inflation.
House prices in the Auckland region slowed to 12.2 percent, the lowest growth in almost two years, compared with 12.8 percent the previous month.
"December saw a continuation of the trend of a slowing rate of value growth, activity and demand," said QV spokeswoman Andrea Rush.
"This trend has been seen in many of the main centres since the introduction of the LVR, which require a minimum 40 percent deposit for investment properties," she added, referring to the central bank's loan-to-value ratios, which were ramped up last year.
