QV Housing Price Index Suggests Property Price Growth Is Slowing, NZD Unfazed

NZD/USD crept higher Monday, with liquidity thinned by a market holiday in New Zealand. The move was driven by the greenback's depreciation, as participants assessed weekend comments from U.S. Tsy Sec Yellen & the G7 agreement re: minimum corporate tax rate.

• The latest QV House Price Index "has shown a reduction in quarterly value growth from the previous month" for the first time since Jul 2020, as the average value rose 8.8% in the three months through May vs. an 8.9% increase reported in Apr. QV General Manager Nagel commented that "this small reduction is particularly significant considering the QV House Price Index is a rolling average measure, which includes transactions from some of the most buoyant months earlier in the quarter". Elsewhere, BBG reported that the average residential property asking price rose 16.6% Y/Y in May, reaching a record high of NZ$820,950, based on listings on Trade Me Property auction site. Separately, an NZ Herald/Kantar poll showed that nearly two thirds of Kiwis believe that house prices need to fall, a sign of the growing political salience of the issue.
• New Zealand's quarterly m'fing activity report & flash ANZ Business Confidence come out Wednesday, with card spending due Thursday & BusinessNZ M'fing PMI due Friday.
• NZD/USD last trades at $0.7226, just shy of neutral levels. A clearance of Jun 1 high of $0.7288 would open up May 26 high of $0.7316. On the downside, a move through Jun 3 low of $0.7126 would bring May 4 low of $0.7116 into play.