WELLINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 6.6 percent in September to a record high of 597,000 New Zealand dollars, up from 560,000 New Zealand dollars in September 2018, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) said on Tuesday.

These results are in line with the REINZ House Price Index (HPI) which saw property values increase 3.6 percent annually, according to the latest data from REINZ, source of the most complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand.

Median price increases for New Zealand excluding Auckland increased by 6.8 percent to new record high of 500,000 New Zealand dollars, up from 468,000 New Zealand dollars in September last year.

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at REINZ said: "September was a strong month price rise, with record median prices recorded in four regions - Manawatu/Wanganui, Southland, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay. Additionally, the Waikato saw a record equal median price achieved during September of 550,000 New Zealand dollars and New Zealand as a whole saw a record median price of 597,000 New Zealand dollars. Overall, median prices rose in 13 out of 16 regions."

"Whilst the Auckland region saw an increase, it's too early to call this a trend - especially as the median price has returned to around the 850,000 New Zealand dollars mark where we've seen median prices sit for a few years now," said Norwell.

In September the median number of days to sell a property nationally decreased by 1 day from 36 to 35 when compared to September last year. However, this was down 4 days on last month's figure of 39 days. (1 New Zealand dollar equals 0.63 U.S. dollar) =