Auckland and Christchurch leading housing market in August

Tuesday 13th September 2011 1 Comment

House sales and prices in Auckland and Christchurch drove an otherwise weak national housing market higher in August, according to new statistics from both Quotable Value New Zealand and the Real Estate Institute released today.

While the two statistical series do not completely correlate, the trends are unmistakable. Prices within the boundaries of the “old” pre-super city Auckland are now 1.5% above where they were at the peak of the market in 2007, QV says, while both agencies report growing demand for homes in Auckland and in Christchurch, as people start seeking new homes in the undamaged parts of the quake-stricken southern city and its surrounding towns.

“Values in (greater) Auckland have increased 2.8% since January, and are now 2.2% above the same time last year and only 0.3% below the previous market peak of late 2007,” said QV’s Glenda Whitehead.

“The ‘old’ Auckland city has been increasing the fastest – by 3% over the past year. ”However, QV’s national index shows house prices have only clawed their way back to where they were a year ago, having dipped over the course of the last 12 months and then recovered slightly, to be 5% below the peak in 2007.

The REINZ series also shows the average number of days taken for a house to sell has fallen slightly in Auckland, at 33 days, the shortest in the country, with national average days taken to sell now sitting at 39 days, compared with 42 days in August.

In Christchurch, the QV house price index shows a significant uplift since May, after a marked drop following the second and deadly quake that struck the city on Feb. 22, with prices now 1.7% higher than in August last year.

“Values continue to increase, driven by activity in the unaffected areas,” QV said, with interest in the north, west, and southwest of the city, and a lift in values for townships in the Selwyn and Waimakariri districts.

QV also found sales were now occurring in Christchurch’s “white zone”, where properties require further geotechnical investigation. “Purchasers (are) mitigating their risk by not paying over capital value in case the property re-zoned red.”

(BusinessDesk)

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

On 13 September 2011 at 4:58 pm Jason said:

You have to earn at least $150,000 a year to afford a house in Auckland. Global affordability measures indicate a median home should cost about 3 times average income. So if you don't earn a good six figure salary move to Australia where you can.