WELLINGTON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand regions outside Auckland has witnessed sharp rises in the housing prices, reported local media on Tuesday.

Asking prices for houses in parts of New Zealand have reached an all-time high. Prices in Otago, Southland, Wellington and Waikato are soaring to the steepest asking prices since the records began in 2007.

The average asking price for a home in Otago jumped up 8.3 percent to 454,102 New Zealand dollars in May and Southland prices increased by 9.5 percent to 344,688 dollars.

Housing prices in the capital Wellington have been stable in the mid 600,000 dollars for the first four months of 2019, but leapt forward to a new record high of 684,300 dollars, which translate to 4.2 percent increase on the previous month.

However, the total number of homes for sale in Wellington has increased by 18.4 percent since last year. Waikato region saw the prices up 3.2 percent from last month to 626,776 dollars on average.

However, Auckland is lagging behind the rest of the country, with a price drop of 2.7 percent in the last month. Housing prices in Auckland are now at an average of 875,476 dollars. (1 New Zealand dollar equals 0.65 US dollars)