Main drivers of national price growth were outside Auckland
The New Zealand property market continues to improve as eight of the fifteen regions hit record average asking prices in November, according to the latest Trade Me report.
Trade Me’s latest Property Price Index revealed that the national asking price had reached a 2019 high of $678,950 – up 2.4% on November last year and a shocking 62% from five years ago.
“The surge in buyer demand we saw in October flowed through to a jump in property listings in November, which were up 3.1 per cent month-on-month as sellers looked to get in on the action with the weather warming up,” said Nigel Jeffries, head of Trade Me Property.
He pointed out that the main drivers of national price growth were outside Auckland with the Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu/Whanganui, Nelson/Tasman, Northland, Otago, Southland, Waikato and Wellington still performing strongly.
“We expect house-hunting to ease off as we head into the Christmas period, though typically we see a big spike in views come January and if the current price trend persists, we could be headed for a record summer,” he said.
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Wellington’s average asking price increased almost 1% on October and 9.7% year on year, which may have been driven by lack of supply. Meanwhile, Waikato is in the middle of a property boom – with average prices up 74% on five years ago.
“The average asking price in Waikato reached $623,650 in November, compared to $358,850 in 2014. Much of this growth has been driven by people shifting south from Auckland to the benefit of homeowners in Hamilton who have seen a big spike in the value of their homes,” Jeffries said.
Hamilton prices were also up 9.7% to an average of $649,100, while the average asking price in Auckland was also up 1.5% against October.
“Auckland has seen the average asking price slowly increase over the last few months, and significantly fewer properties on the market compared to a year ago, which suggests the market will end 2019 feeling fairly settled,” Jeffries explained.
