RPT-NZ house price growth eases for 6th month in Feb

WELLINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - Growth in New Zealand house prices eased for the sixth straight month in February as rising mortgage rates further cooled the once-robust market, government agency Quotable Value (QV) said on Monday.

QV's residential house price index rose 7.7 percent in the month from a year earlier, compared with 8.9 percent in January and 10 percent in December.

"Clearly the market is slowing down and taking a breather, and we expect this will continue given the current market conditions," QV spokesman Blue Hancock said in a statement.

"It looks like we may be in for a sustained period of less activity in the property market."

Mortgage rates, already driven higher by the central bank's record interest rate level, have risen over the past few weeks as retail banks face tougher funding conditions caused by the global credit crunch.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) raised its cash rate by a total of 100 basis points to 8.25 percent last year on concerns about strong domestic spending, particularly in the housing market.

It said last Thursday it was likely to keep rates at current levels until well into the second half of 2009 because of persistent inflation pressures from rising food and oil prices as well as a tight labour market.

The latest Reuters poll has most of the 15 economists surveyed expecting no change to rates at least until late 2008.

The annual rate of house price growth for Auckland, the biggest population and commercial centre, eased to 7.2 percent from 7.9 percent in January, while house value growth in the capital Wellington eased to 9.2 percent growth from 10.6 percent.