Auckland home values head south

House values in parts of Auckland have fallen in the last month, QV data reveals.

The last month has seen home values fall in parts of Auckland and the three monthly and annual rates of growth slow down significantly compared to over the last year, the latest monthly QV House Price Index show.

Nationwide, residential property values for January have decreased by 0.3% over the past month, which is the result of a 0.5% decrease in the Auckland region in the month since December 2015.

However, over the past year nationwide values have risen 12.6% and 0.7% over the past three months. They are now 34.2% above the previous market peak of late 2007. The average value nationwide is now $556,206. The average value in the Auckland region is now $928,921.

“The QV House Price Index shows home values continue to rise in outer fringe Auckland areas of Rodney, Papakura and Franklin, as well as in most other parts of the New Zealand,” QV National Spokesperson Andrea Rush said.

“However, for the first time in more than a year values have decreased over the past month in the former Auckland City Council suburbs as well as on the North Shore, in Manukau and Waitakere. 

“The value decreases in parts of Auckland could be in part due to the seasonal impact of the holiday period and the housing market may pick up in the usually busiest months of the year, February and March.

But Rush says it’s more likely a continuation of the softening in the market seen after the government and the Reserve Bank introduced new rules to slow down investor activity in Auckland.

“It’s possible the easing in values in Auckland may be short-lived as the under lying factors driving house prices up remain: record high net migration, record low interest rates and a lack of housing supply.”

“The previous two months had already shown a marked slowdown from the increases we have become used to seeing in Auckland,” says CoreLogic NZ Director of Research Jonno Ingerson said in a report .

“This is therefore not a one-month anomaly, which we do see from time to time. This is a genuine drop in values.

“Back in 2011 we saw a couple of months when Auckland values dropped slightly, but values at that time were almost flat so a drop wasn’t as notable. You have to go back to the beginning of the Global Financial Crises in early 2008 to see this sort of turnaround in Auckland values.”

QV Homevalue Registered Valuer, James Wilson said the lifestyle market is still getting stronger, as buyers seek lifestyle property further from the city centre to get more for their money. 

“QVhomevalue Auckland is seeing an increase in people re-financing against their homes or property portfolios to purchase additional property, complete capital upgrades or free up cash for personal use,” Wilson says.