The Department of Building and Housing has recently released its Building and Housing Trends publication for April to June 2008. In its "stop press" section, the department states that "trends that were evident in the June 2008 quarter have strengthened during July and August. In particular, the housing market has continued to slow, residential building consent activity has continued to reduce, and rental market conditions are more relaxed."

Report highlights include:

• The Household Labour Force Survey estimates there were 178,300 people employed in the construction industry in the June 2008 quarter. This is a 5.1 per cent fall from the June 2007 quarter.
• Inflation in the housing sector was 5.0 per cent in the year to the June 2008 quarter, which was slightly lower than the 5.1 per cent in the year to the March 2008 quarter.
• Inflation for home ownership was 5.2 per cent in the year to the June 2008 quarter (according to the price index of the purchase of new housing), compared with 5.7 per cent in the year to the March 2008 quarter.
• The median house price in June 2008 was $340,000, which is a 2.2 per cent decline from a median price of $347,500 in June 2007.
• The median house price for Auckland fell 2.2 per cent in the year to June 2008.
• The median number of days to sell a property in June 2008 was 53 days, compared with the 30 days it took in June 2007 and the 37 days it took in March 2006.
• Tenancy bond data shows that for most dwelling types, average weekly rents for new private rental tenancies have continued to rise.