House prices in Tauranga are now 40 per cent higher than the previous peak reached in 2007 – just before the global financial crisis hit.

Values have risen 17.5 per cent since last year, although rate of growth has been slowing since the introduction of LVR restrictions late last year.

The average value for the city is now $678,643.

QV homevalue Tauranga registered valuer David Hume says agents are reporting ‘more normalised' activity in the sub $700,000 bracket.

'Well-located properties over $1,000,000 continue to be in good demand. However, some agents are even reporting a softening of values for investment properties which is likely to be due to some investor's finding it more difficult to gain finance to purchase with the higher deposit requirements.”

Meanwhile, Western Bay of Plenty values have increased 15.9 per cent year on year and 2.7 per cent over the past three months.

The average value in the district is now $590,783.

The latest monthly QV House Price Index shows that nationwide residential property values for April increased 11.1 per cent over the past year, which is the slowest annual rate of growth since July 2015.

Quarterly value growth plateaued with a zero per cent change over the past three months. This means nationwide average value remains at $631,147 which is 52.3 per cent above the previous market peak of late 2007.

When adjusted for inflation the nationwide annual increase drops slightly to 8.7% and values are now 27.2 per cent above the 2007 peak.

Residential property values across the Auckland Region increased 10.7 per cent year on year which is the slowest annual rate of growth since December 2014 and quarterly growth decreased by 0.4 per cent over the past three months.

The average value for the Auckland region is now $1,043,830 and values are now on average 91 per cent higher than the previous peak of 2007. When adjusted for inflation values rose 8.4 per cent over the past year and are 59.4 per cent above the 2007 peak.