Property valuer Quotable Value has reported values "resumed their gental rise in April", with values up 0.4% in the past 3 months and up 3.1% from a year ago.
QV said first home buyers were active and there was strong demand for few listings inside the leafy suburbs of the old Auckland City. Values in the old Auckland City were now up 6.8% from a year ago and 5.1% above their previous peak of late 2007.
Here's QV's full release:
Nationwide residential property values resumed their gentle rise in April according to the latest QV index. Values are up 0.4% over the past three months and 3.1% up over the past year. Values are now 2.9% below the previous market peak of late 2007.
QV Valuer Glenda Whitehead said “nationwide values have once again increased slightly in the past month, continuing the trend that has persisted for the past year. The marginal drop in values in March appears to have been a temporary blip. There continues to be variability across the country but slight increases in values in parts of Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and several of the provincial centres are helping to push up nationwide values”.
Whitehead said “sales activity has been strong for the last few months, with volumes at the highest levels since 2007. Some of the increase in activity has been due an increase in confidence amongst home buyers, releasing some of the pent-up demand caused by several years of lower than usual sales activity. First home buyers are also active in most of the main centres, in part encouraged by the Welcome Home Loan package and low interest rates. Sales activity will slow down a little over winter but the increased confidence in the property market is likely to carry through into Spring”.
Auckland
Values in the wider Auckland area are up 0.6% over the past three months, and 5.0% up over the past year. Values in the old Auckland City are rising faster than any of the other main centres, at 6.8% over the past year to now be 5.1% higher than the previous market peak in 2007.
QV Valuer Glenda Whitehead said “property values are performing quite differently across what is a very large urban area. The financial position of buyers appears to be a key driver for whether prices in suburbs are rising or remaining more stable”.
“Properties in the inner leafy suburbs, including Old Auckland City, that command values in excess of $800,000, continue to be in strong demand. Buyer numbers are well in excess of the relatively low listing levels. This imbalance continues to see sale prices climb with buyers seemingly less financially restricted and keen to outbid each other, typically at auction or through pre-auction offers. Some of this activity is a counter-balance to a long period of inactivity which has caused pent up demand. Agents have also indicated buyer numbers are being bolstered by New Zealanders returning from overseas” said Whitehead.
“Values have also been rising in Te Atatu Peninsula, New Lynn and Titirangi. Demand has outstripped listing levels in recent months for properties in the $400,000 to $550,000 price bracket.
“In other suburbs there is a better balance of supply and demand with most buyers under stricter financial constraint. Areas where family homes can be purchased under $400,000 such as Papatoetoe, Glen Eden, Ranui and Massey are experiencing steady turnover with prices either firm or increasing marginally.
“Hillsborough, overlooking the Manukau harbour and One Tree Hill, continues to offer sizeable family homes on full sites for $500,000 to $600,000. Values in this area appear stable in recent months. Demand for these is coming from buyers who seek solid construction options that won’t present any maintenance issues in the future.
“Demand within suburbs on the North Shore is varied, with Hillcrest and Forest Hill remaining popular. Properties here priced in the $500,000 to $750,000 bracket are seeing strong demand and values are now slightly increasing. Sunnynook, with family homes in the $450,000 to $600,000 bracket, saw a big jump in values late last year but increases have now eased and values are steady this year” said Whitehead.
Hamilton
Values in Hamilton have risen 0.5% over the past three months following several months of relative stability. Values are now up 1.7% over the past year but remain 10.6% below the 2007 market peak.
“There has been renewed interest in the market from people who have been holding off for a few months. This has resulted in properties in the middle and upper low end of the market selling best. This renewed interest in the property market has reduced the stock of properties on the market in the city and this may lead to a shortage of properties if the demand continues. Mixed economic signals on the home front including increasing unemployment and a reduced dairy payout as well as a challenging global backdrop may mean that the market flattens over the winter months” said QV Valuer Richard Allen.
Tauranga
Tauranga values have been gradually trending down over the past few months, dropping 0.6% over the past three months, but still remaining 0.7% above the same time last year. Values are now 11.5% below the 2007 market peak.
“Lower end properties are receiving the most interest with first home buyers entering the market, as younger couples with smaller deposits have also been able to enter the market for the first time in years due to the Welcome Home Loans programme. The price floor for entry level properties is also now heading below $200,000 which is unheard of in Tauranga in the last four years. The remainder of the residential market is ticking over but really no more” said QV Valuer Paul Thomas.
Wellington
Over the past year values in the Wellington area first dropped then recovered. Values are up 0.6% over the past three months, and also up 0.6% over the past year.
“Although the Wellington market is active with good demand from buyers, value levels remain relatively steady. First home buyers are prominent and investors are starting to enter the market for multi-unit investment blocks. There is also an increase in activity in the rural lifestyle market. Some potential buyers are again commenting that it is difficult to find a suitable property, indicating that there is a shortage of listings in some areas. Well presented and located property in good school zones are still selling well, sometimes under multiple offer situations” said QV Valuer Pieter Geill.
Christchurch
Values in Christchurch had been rising steadily for most of the past year to now be 4.8% higher. However over the last couple of months values first flattened then dropped back slightly. It is too early to say if that represents a longer term slowing of values in Christchurch. Compared to the market peak of late 2007 values are now just 0.1% lower.
The areas neighbouring Christchurch continue to increase in value faster than anywhere else in the country. Waimakariri District has increased 13.0% over the past year and Selwyn District 9.5%. These increases have pushed values further above the previous market peak of 2007 than anywhere else, with Waimakariri 9.0% higher and Selwyn 7.2% higher.
“Activity and demand continue to flourish in unaffected areas of Christchurch and the surrounding areas. Properties selling via auction or ‘sale by negotiation over’ have been very effective as the competition is driving sale prices. Feedback from purchasers also reveals the first offer they put forward is generally their best price due to being tired of going through the process and missing out on properties. We are also seeing more evidence of people well underway with planning or building in new subdivisions”said QV Valuer Richard Kolff.
Dunedin
Dunedin values have dropped back 1% in the last three months after rising 4.5% in the five months prior to that. Values are now 2.7% above the same time last year and 5.1% below the 2007 market peak.
“Demand is highest for lower valued properties with good attendance at open homes and an apparent shortage of listing. Buyers in this lower bracket appear to be a good mix of first home buyers and investors, with more outside investment being identified due to perceived affordability in the south” said QV Valuer Tim Gibson.
Provincial centres
Over the past three months values have increased between 1% and 2.5% in Rotorua, Palmerston North, Queenstown Lakes and Invercargill. Gisborne has dropped nearly 3% in the past three months, and Napier by 1.5% while the other main provincial centres have stayed more or less steady.
Over the past year most provincial centres have stayed within a 2% band with the exceptions being Whangarei up 3.1% and Nelson up 2.7% while Wanganui has dropped 4.9% over the past year and Gisborne has dropped 4.0%.
68 Comments
No increase is a blessing for Eastern suburbs. According to Chris_J, eastern suburbs (Remuera, Parnell etc) are grotty undesirable part of Auckland full of leaky homes and infested by mongrels. It can only go down hill so to speak. AGS and EGGS are rubbish he says.
..."Properties in the inner leafy suburbs, including Old Auckland City, that command values in excess of $800,000, continue to be in strong demand"...
Where are these inner leafy suburbs?
Do they refer to Grey Lynn, Westmere, Pt Chev, Ponsonby, Freemans Bay, Herne Bay and St Marys Bay? May be Mt Eden and Epsom too?
Surely not the Eastern suburbs (Parnell, Remmers, Orakei, Mission Bay, Kohi, St Heliers and Meadowbank) as according to Chris_J and SK they are in the decline and it's a shame people have to live in these undesirable suburbs???
Good to see doublegz now understands sarcasm. The inner west and Epsom/Mt Eden offer better mid range housing than Remuera.
Remuera has plenty of big homes but the smaller ones tend to be in gullies on chopped off or steep sites, or on the southern slopes or amongst horrible 50s or later housing - all up not nice places to live.
Overall the character leafy streets in the inner west and inner south are a more desirable and convenient proposition for those with around the million (and a bit) to spend.
OK I am putting my sane hat on today Chris_J. Yes I agree there are more leaky / plaster clad homes in the eastern suburbs than the central west. However there are still a lot of good old homes in the leafy wide streets here in Remuera. The following northern slope streets spring to mind just thinking about the idyllic charm of yesteryears:
- Martin Ave
- Kenny Rd
- Dell Ave
- Ara St
- Rangitoto Ave
- Entrican Ave
- Ranui Rd
- Woodley Ave
- Komaru St
- Mahoe Ave
Have a drive around and tell me you don't like them?
Upon your advice, I went for a drive in Grey Lynn and long afternoon walks along Old Mill, Sherwood, Francis and Stanmore yesterday Chris_J...you know what?!..you can have the streets to yourself.
There is only one word I can use to describe what I saw in Grey Lynn streets: SCRUFFY!!! As soon as I drove back to Remuera, the only other word I can think of is: GRACIOUS!!!
I will never leave eastern suburb again...I can now appreciate how lucky I am to be able to live here surrounded by leafy trees, bird-chirping, and nice neighbours who actually take care of their properties, inside and out. I really feel home here.
Old Mill is a main road and expect to pay under $1m for a good bungalow.
In the others you obviously didn't pay attention to the high end reno underway and the general uplift in the area.
Getting into that kind of locale for about $1m or for a good done up at $1.3 seems a pretty good long term plan. Take a look at the nearby done up areas like the Avenues in Ponsonby/Herne Bay and parts of Grey Lynn, St Mary's Bay etc. In real estate it pays to be where other people are spending not stuck out in areas of decline.
Chris J - did u see 36 Stanmore Rd, Grey Lynn.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential/for-sale/auction-46835918…
Owner paid $750,000 in February 2011, gave it perhaps a $300k makeover and tonight it passed in at auction at $1,260,000 - seems a bit light.
Plain, sterile and clinical is the look that's pulling top dollars - it seems to be what the double income no kid, Audi/BMW driving set are looking for these days. The exteriors, the kitchens, blinds and the bathrooms are all white and the appliances are stainless steel.
We just did a very similar one - still can't see $300K and we don't DIY anything but painting and finishing. If they DIYed much of it and there's no CoC (yet) ...
'Chic' well maybe ... but it's a bungalow!!! :-)
Where's the sense of heritage? But then, this is Auckland :(
The pool should be moved to the far end and have a lawn area created between the deck and pool for kids to play. I can imagine the vendor asking for over 1.2m but with only 1 x open plan living area, no study, single garage with no internal access, 1.5m is dreaming. Better value in Lingarth, Remuera for around 700k with bigger house and land, GZ.
Location notwithstanding - Lingarth is far more practical in my opinion. For starters there is some bench space for food prep in the kitchen. At Stanmore you have the sink and the cooktop side-by-side and no preparation surface to speak of that I can see. Then it also looks like Stanmore has the laundry behind those wall cupboards in the kitchen - whereas Lingarth has a nice spacious separate laundry. I can't see any dressers in any of the bedrooms at Stanmore and assume although they each have built in wardrobes there isn't a great deal of floor space left over.
Also assume that the garage at Stanmore isn't practical for housing a car - as the way the ad is written it seems to advertise the garage as storage space - with two outside off street car parks - and in any case no internal access. Front porch at Lingarth looks to be more private - and hence more pleasant for a quiet read of a book or a coffee - even though it looks straight into a fence. Stanmore hasn't got street appeal - whereas the approach to Lingarth from the drive gives a much better architectural impression of the house from the outside. The pool at Stanmore is a liability and not easy to remedy.
Lingarth hallway is much wider - Stanmore's thin hallway is made visually less appealing by the ceiling height and nothing colour of architectural to break it up. Lingarth ceilings and other detail much more in keeping with the fundamental nature of the house and era - very tasteful decor - looks like a home, whereas Stanmore looks like a magazine inspired reno... a forced attempt to deliver a percetion of what the target market wants.
And Lingarth has a separate lounge and is presented with a desk in one of the bedrooms.
What do you think of this early 1900's Sholto Smith architecture?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=469747389
The house was extended in 2004 to create a 2nd living and a pool at the back. It's going on auction next week with a CV of 1.1+. Land size is 732 sqm and DGZ - I think it's abit of a steal if sold below CV.
Never liked tudor style myself. They always look like they'd be hard to heat. Don't care for the extension either. I dislike any reno where what was likely a previous external window becomes an internal hole in the wall. In our opinion, the best renovations are those where you don't wonder what was there before, if you know what I mean.
I'd imagine tudor would be a difficult resale as it's one of those love it or hate it and hence limits your resale target market.
CVs arrrrgh ... they have little to do with anything - as Chris_J so rightly pointed out in Chch.
If a place is being purchased as an owner-occupier private residence by someone who can afford to own it... if it's love at first sight.. well it's love at first sight.
I suppose it's different for those with a cautious eye toward what I call the liquidity factor - meaning if I want to get my cash out, how easy is that going to be? Perhaps then CVs matter - but they rarely reflect current market prices/conditions ... particularly in today's extremely volatile setting.
Just becuase it was passed in at $1.56m doesn't necessarily mean any of the bids leading up to that were real/actual interested parties - as it is perfectly legal for the auctioneer to place and take his/her own bids (I understand Barfoots did not run their auctions this way previously - don't know what their practice is now). But normally what happens is the auctioneer bids the property up to what the vendor's minimum requirement is - then passes it in.
That way the agent can say it passed in at x amount - even if there were no real/actual bidders bidding anywhere near that amount.
I don't know how many times we've placed a bid at the top dollar which we were prepared to pay - property was passed in at some other much greater amount - then we get approached by the auctioneer afterwards - to up our offer to the passed in amount.
I always point out that they should be negotiating with the highest bidder - but of course the highest bidder was them (the agency). It's a racket. Be very careful when bidding at auctions - often you have NO competition, but the way it's run you think you do!
Well that's odd for starters as normally the agent would immediately corral them after the auction - put them in a room and begin one-on-one negotiations between them and the vendor. As normally as the highest bidder they have priority rights as first in line to enter into negotiation.
The highest bidder was $1.56m and Mark Sumich is pretty good at drawing the best bids out so the market seems to agree it was worth slightly upwards of $1.5m ish.
$1.9m is a bit over the top on price, but there is little on the market so you can always try!
I'm sure there is a fair bit of gameplay in that asking price, especially with that Spencer St sale last week!
Are you a loon double gz?
Benson Rd sold for about $1.6m five or so years ago and the vendor's expectations are at least that level, albeit not a great property down below the road with a limited rear yard and relatively small bedrooms.
If you do own Lingarth (Mr Jones), you will know that you put it on the market last year at $1.1m, and that obviously it didn't get any serious interest. Being prepared to sell for marginally above what you paid for it and $400k less than that asking price sounds a bit odd, so why are you selling? Is there something wrong with the property?
What did I say doublegz, Benson is actually on the market at $1.9m (and you thought it would go for about $1.1m!!! - that's a laugh).
http://www.realestate.co.nz/1775815
Lingarth was passed in at $850k with 1 bidder only. So much for you saying that you'd be a seller at over $700k!! Market value was probably not much more I'd guess, 9s tops.
BTW we have bought some double grammar property (although not in the east).
Hey Chris_J - thought about offshoring a bit of your windfall?
For the price of two Benson Sts - you could own 9 acres + the Pooh House;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/6938860/Winnie-the-Poohs-home-for-sale
Seems a steal to me.
Just had a look at them both and agree. Stanmore looks like something that was once lovely, but now is just a sad shell, and tacky as hell. Reno'ed by somebody with a lot of magazines and no taste. That stupid pool taking up what looks like the entire back garden is a horror.
Lingarth on the other hand looks much more comfortable, practical and liveable, and hasn't been renovated out of all its character by idiots. It's a real home, not some bland screwed up thing that'll look all shiny in photos but not actually function well.
wow!!! http://rwponsonby.co.nz/PON20761 was sold for $1.676..
Small world.. A good friend of mine nearly bought this one in 2009 when it still has a full 1400m2 section - it think his accepted offer was mid 900K .. he decided not to go ahead with the purchase. So whoever bought it, sub-divided and renovated the old house - It was in 3 flats and pretty run down.
Whoever he/she was.. is now laughing all the way to the bank!
Yes was there.
Given this http://rwponsonby.co.nz/PON20761 was sold for $1.676 last year with a south facing yard & no garage I would think $1.5m easily for 36 Stanmore and a massive profit for the seller. CCC should not be a problem so long as it is supplied by possession date - lack of CCC hasn't stopped other homes selling at premium prices lately.
Most buyers of these Grey Lynn done ups are professional couples with no kids and many other recent sales have had small sites with pools.
Another on Williamson Ave failed to sell at auction today - passed in just over $1m - that's an extremely high traffic road though!
bigblue, if the broken link is this house;
http://rwponsonby.co.nz/PON20761
And you are suggesting a like for like price wise comparison with Stanmore - then I can only assume you own Stanmore - lol!
And the big clue to the difference between these two properties can be found on the floor plans included with the ads for each. Wilton Street's renovation was planned by an architect - Stanmores looks like the owner DIYed that part of the reno too.
But then there is the architectural heritage quality of the original two buildings being renovated - no comparison really to my mind.
What they have in common is age and alot of white paint.
http://rwponsonby.co.nz/PON20761 - Wilton St
Just keeping an eye on local sales - own three in area and enjoying watching the rapid increase in value, better rents and big reduction in interest bill means all paid off in 8 years!
You still got more insurance money to spend?
Why sell - in fact may buy another couple if I can find them! By year end central west likely to see 15% increase, rents up maybe another $50 to $100 per week, maybe floating rates under 5% or lock in at less than 5.5% fixed for 3 years before year end.
Supply in Grey Lynn, Ponsonby, Westmere has dropped right off in last 3 weeks. Prices can only continue to rise. 3 year and 5 year swap rates well down. - 3 year rate now 2.77% which is almost three quarters of a percent down from where it was 7 weeks ago!
We are well out of a 4 year downer and most likely have 3 years of boom ahead.
Chris_J, our tastes are so different I wouldn't want to waste my time.
You see diamonds in Grey Lynn, I see rubbish, rats and cockroaches" I remembered both you and Chris_J put out some comments about a house in wood st that was for sale and you would offer $800K. It was sold for roughly 60% more than what you suggested.
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