Hawke's Bay property prices are yo yoing | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

Hawke's Bay house prices continue to fluctuate but sales volumes have eased back after a strong lift in July, according to the REINZ August report.

The Hawke's Bay region was showing a pattern of a strong month followed by a weak month, followed by a strong month, the report said.

The median price for the Hawkes Bay region was the weakest across New Zealand compared to July and August 2010.

It fell from $275,000 in July to $250,000 in August, compared to $272,500 in August 2010.

"It is difficult to see a consistent trend in prices with a strong lift in prices being followed by weakening prices the following month," the report said.

The days to sell for the Hawke's Bay region improved from 53 in July to 43 days in August, and by seven days compared to August 2010.

Quotable Value have also released its August report.

It said property prices in August fell 0.2 per cent in Hastings and rose 0.2 per cent in Napier. In July Hastings fell 0.1 per cent and Napier 1.5 per cent.

QV average sale prices are calculated on residential sales in the previous three month period.

The average sale price for August in Hastings was $292,984 and in Napier $325,965.

Nationwide property values continued to rise in August and are now 0.1 per cent above the same time last year and 5.0 per cent below the market peak of 2007.

Simon Tremain, managing Director of Tremains Real Estate, said the volatile average price from the REINZ report was indicative of a smaller sample than larger centres.

Despite the erratic figures, he said other indicators were pointing to a widespread recovery.

"There is a general theme of activity across all price levels - we are in a better space than we have been for four years," Mr Tremain said.