Tauranga/Mount Maunganui has one of the highest expectations of house price growth in the country, following behind Queenstown and alongside Wellington.

The prediction comes from the latest quarterly Residential Property Market Outlook Survey which found median house price rise expectations have dipped ahead of the Overseas Investment Amendment Act coming into force in October.

The survey found the number of respondents expecting median prices in New Zealand to rise over the next 12 months still outweigh those who expect a decline.

However, the result of a net positive 26 per cent this quarter is down from a net positive 36 per cent recorded three months ago.

Chris Dibble, director of research and communications at Colliers International, says the lower level of positivity this quarter seems to surround Overseas Investment Amendment Act changes.

'Almost half of our survey respondents were pessimistic about the market impact when discussing the new Overseas Investment Amendment Act which comes into force on October 22.

In the commercial sector, Tauranga/Mt Maunganui and Queenstown have taken the top two spots for the ninth consecutive quarter in the latest quarterly Commercial Property Investor Confidence Survey.

The three biggest risks and trends for commercial property in the next 12 months, as identified by survey respondents, are the economic and political environment, costs and business confidence.

The residential survey drew on 6634 responses, while the commercial survey drew on 2436 responses.