Christchurch remains the place to buy for first home buyers

New One Roof figures show the nationwide median property value hit a record high 791-thousand dollars in July -- up 21 per cent on the year before.

But the pace of growth in the last three months is slowing down to 5.5 per cent.

Canterbury still lags behind other centres, with a median house price of 553-thousand -- up 18 percent on a year ago.

One Roof editor Owen Vaughan says that's well below the median in other cities, like Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga.

He says the city's new housing developments are attracting buyers.