Auckland house prices: some suburbs leave the million-dollar club, but 1/3 buck the trend with gains!

OneRoof and Realestate.co.nz both released property reports today! Once again, there are winners and losers!

 

The OneRoof Property Report released today by OneRoof and Valocity shows Auckland’s property market continuing to diverge.

 

—Of the 10 suburbs with the biggest falls in median house prices nationwide, 9 are in Auckland.

 

—Herne Bay, the affluent suburb with the country’s highest house prices, recorded a 12% fall to NZ$2,190,000.

 

—Kumeu, in north-west Auckland, recorded the country’s biggest house price fall at 18%.

 

—House prices on the North Shore, a favourite among Chinese buyers, fell by more than 5%.

 

—The Papakura and Rodney property markets remained strong, with gains of more than 2% over the past 12 months, partly because first-home buyers entered the market.

 

House prices fall by more than 5% in nearly 1/5 of Auckland suburbs

Falls reached 10% in 7 suburbs: Kumeu, Whitford, Albany, Herne Bay, Pukekohe East, Ti Point and Sunnynook. On the North Shore, Sunnynook, Northcross, Hillcrest, Rosedale and Torbay have even dropped out of the million-dollar club. 

 

Sunnynook’s median house price was NZ$1,140,000 a year ago and has now fallen to NZ$995,000, although it remains well above the NZ$720,000 recorded 3 years ago.

 

Kumeu, in north-west Auckland, recorded the country’s biggest house price fall, dropping from NZ$1,445,000 to NZ$1,195,000, a decline of 18%.

 

Albany also recorded a fall of more than 12%, down NZ$140,000 from last year’s NZ$1,145,000.

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Although Herne Bay’s house prices have retreated from last year’s peak of NZ$2,490,000, a home on Marine Parade sold for NZ$12,000,000 in November last year, making it Auckland’s second-highest sale.

 

Some suburb-level house price falls are real, while others are only apparent

New Zealand has relatively few property transactions.

 

In any particular suburb, a few more luxury homes sold during the month can push prices up, while a few more apartment sales can pull them down.

 

Sales figures released by REINZ in April this year showed house prices in Long Bay on the North Shore plunging 24.8% in the six months to the end of March. In reality, numerous townhouses were completed there late last year and early this year, bringing down Long Bay’s median price.

 

 

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said lower-priced homes accounted for a larger share of Auckland’s market than a year ago. These properties are particularly popular with first-home buyers, who now account for 27% of new lending.

 

On the other side of the harbour, Lynfield, Three Kings and The Gardens near Manurewa have also fallen below NZ$1,000,000, with house prices now between NZ$930,000 and NZ$990,000.

 

Other South Auckland suburbs, however, are bucking the trend with rising house prices. Over the past year, median house prices in Manukau, Otara and Mangere increased by between 4.6% and 5.2%.

 

Valocity’s head of valuations, James Wilson, said house prices in these suburbs ranged from NZ$505,000 to NZ$665,000. Prices were continuing to rise, but buyers had shifted from investors to first-home buyers.

 

Loan Market mortgage broker Bruce Patten also noted a sharp increase in the proportion of first-home buyers in the market.

 

“Auckland house prices have been flat for some time, and there will be no major changes over the next few years either. This allows people to use rising incomes to get onto the property ladder. In the past, even a short wait would see house prices rise by NZ$100,000–200,000.”

 

Realestate.co.nz: South Island active, North Island quiet

New Zealand’s largest property website, Realestate.co.nz, today released its property report for May.

 

The average asking price for Auckland homes fell 2.7% from April to NZ$875,500. Compared with May 2018, the total stock of homes available for sale increased by 10.8% to 9,997 homes.

 

Across the country, the South Island was relatively active, while the North Island was quiet.

 

 

House prices in the Queenstown area took off again, with the average asking price rising to NZ$1,000,000.

 

In the North Island, asking prices for Auckland homes were falling, but those in Wellington and Waikato continued to rise.

 

Wellington’s average residential asking price rose 4.2% to NZ$684,300. Waikato’s residential asking price increased 3.2% to NZ$626,800.