13,750,000! This year's most expensive luxury home sells! First-half luxury home sales total nearly NZ$100,000,000!

This year, Colliers International New Zealand (CoreLogicNZ) produced its first mid-year property market rankings report. It examined property market trends across New Zealand in detail, revealing that rising house prices were not confined to large and medium-sized cities such as Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton, but were occurring nationwide. 

During months 1–6 of 2021, Auckland's Herne Bay remained New Zealand's most expensive suburb by property value. Its median home value of NZ$3,160,000 firmly established it as the country's most prestigious area.

{ad} 

# The top ten were:#

1. Herne Bay (NZ$3,160,000)

2. Saint Marys Bay (NZ$2,790,000)

3. Remuera (NZ$2,530,000)

4. Stanley Point (NZ$2,440,000)

5. Westmere (NZ$2,350,000)

6. Orakei (NZ$2,270,000)

7. Ponsonby (NZ$2,264,000)

8. Omaha (NZ$2,200,000)

9. Epsom (NZ$2,193,000)

10. Campbells Bay (NZ$2,190,000)

These 10 areas were New Zealand's most expensive suburbs in the first half of this year, with most concentrated in Auckland.

 

# First-half sale prices: Top10 most expensive luxury homes#

The rankings also revealed the ten luxury homes with the highest individual residential sale prices in the first half of this year:

1.16 Audrey Road (NZ$13,750,000)

2.144 Orakei Road (NZ$11,000,000)

3.722 Remuera Road (NZ$11,000,000)

4.19 Lake View Road (NZ$10,700,000)

5.39 Ranui Road 1 (NZ$8,700,000)

6.21 Arney Road (NZ$8,500,000)

7.290 Jervois Road (NZ$8,500,000)

8.2/6 St Leonards Rd (NZ$8,400,000)

9.37 Upland Road (NZ$8,400,000)

10.2 St Vincent Avenue (NZ$8,000,000)

As the list shows, the home at 16 Audrey Road sold for NZ$13,750,000, making it this year's highest-value residential transaction. Next was 144 Orakei Road, which sold for NZ$11,000,000, taking second place. 722 Remuera Road ranked third with a sale price of NZ$11,000,000, followed by 19 Lake View Road in fourth at NZ$10,700,000.

10 luxury homes sold for a combined total of 98,000,000 New Zealand dollars, bringing their total value close to 1 hundred million New Zealand dollars. This clearly shows that the luxury home market was unaffected by the pandemic in the first half of this year and remained highly sought after by the top tier of wealthy buyers.

 

New Zealand's cheapest 10 suburbs revealed

Alongside the country's most expensive areas, the survey also identified the areas with New Zealand's lowest median residential property values:

1. Runanga (NZ$167,000)

2. Mataura (NZ$171,000)

3. Cobden (NZ$198,000)

4. Blaketown (NZ$203,000)

5. Patea (NZ$221,000)

6. Reefton (NZ$227,000)

7. Wairoa (NZ$228,000)

8. Westport (NZ$255,000)

9. Manaia (NZ$259,000)

10. Kaikohe (NZ$274,000)

The distribution above shows that the cheapest areas remain concentrated in the South Island. This region has been particularly affected by the pandemic, and its tourism and service industries are gradually recovering.

 

National property market performance

National house price growth data shows that some more affordable areas performed better.

For example, the median house price in Manunui, in the Ruapehu district, rose 51.8% over the past year, reaching NZ$295,000. The report says this clearly reflects the greater popularity of more affordable areas.

Growth in Tauranga, Christchurch and Dunedin ranged from 20% to 25%. 

Homes in Hargest, Invercargill, spent just 6 days on the market over the past year, making it New Zealand's fastest-selling area. 

Colliers International chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said: 

“Many areas of New Zealand, including its major urban centres, are currently experiencing very strong growth.”

For example, the median house price in Auckland's Otara rose 31.4% over the past year. Enderley in Hamilton also recorded an increase of 30%, while home values in Wellington's Wainuiomata rose 35.3%.

Runanga was the country's cheapest area, with a home value of NZ$167,000. Some areas and small towns in the lower South Island recorded house price growth of less than 5% over the past 12 months. These primarily included Wallacetown, Frankton, Twizel and Te Anau, which recorded the weakest home value growth as a result of the pandemic.

In terms of selling speed, homes in many parts of the country spent around single-digit numbers of days on the market. For example, Invercargill, Nelson, Hamilton, Upper Hutt and Gore recorded average listing periods of fewer than 10 days over the past year, showing that demand remained strong.

The report shows that, within New Zealand's generally expensive housing market, some areas near Christchurch still have median home values below NZ$400,000. This provides a useful affordability benchmark and a reference for those considering relocating.

 

House prices continue to rise across the board

Beyond the widespread house price increases in major cities such as Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, other areas also performed strongly. Kelvin Heights topped the rankings outside these large and medium-sized cities, with a median house price of NZ$2,030,000.

Among the areas with the strongest home value growth, Ruapehu and Gisborne recorded median house price increases of 40% or more over the past 12 months.

Harrowfield became Hamilton's first suburb to exceed NZ$1,000,000, with a median house price of NZ$103. Tauranga now has only 5 areas with median house prices below NZ$700,000. In 15 areas around Wellington, median house prices rose 30% over the past year. More than 25 areas in Christchurch recorded increases exceeding NZ$100,000. Maori Hill became Dunedin's first area with a median house price above NZ$1,000,000.

The rankings covered a range of comparisons across New Zealand, including the most expensive suburbs, cheapest areas, highest individual residential sale prices, and fastest- and slowest-selling areas. Across the 200 areas surveyed near Auckland, median house prices rose by at least 100,000 New Zealand dollars within a year. 

Davidson said the survey results showed that New Zealand's property market had been very busy in the first half of the year. “We expect sales volumes and house price growth to slow in the second half of 2021 and into 2022. With fixed mortgage rates or longer-term mortgage rates now rising, the market is probably very close to, or already at, its peak. In other words, with population growth generally having outpaced growth in housing supply for several years, we expect an economic slowdown rather than an outright recession.”