National property values hold steady

8th August 2011

National property values have steadied according to the QV residential property index for July.

“Nationwide property values have steadied over the past month and are now only 0.4% below the same time last year, and remain 5.2% below the market peak of 2007” said QV.co.nz Research Director Jonno Ingerson.

“Over the past three months values have increased in many parts of the country, with particular strength in the Canterbury region and parts of Auckland” said Ingerson.

“Across the wider Auckland area values have increased 2.4 percent since January, and as a result are now 1.9 percent above last year and only 0.6 percent below the previous market peak of late 2007. This growth in values over the past few months has not been evenly spread across the Supercity with the old Auckland City growing the most, modest increases in Rodney, North Shore and Waitakere, while Manukau, Papakura and Franklin have stayed more or less stable” said Ingerson.

“Values in Hamilton, Tauranga and Dunedin have all been relatively stable for the past six months, although declines in the six months prior to that mean that all three areas remain below the same time last year” said Ingerson.

Ingerson said “Wellington remains the only main centre where values continue to decline in recent months, dropping 1.8 percent since January, and now sitting 2.7 percent lower than the same time last year. Possible Public Sector restructuring remains a dampening factor in the property market”.

“Values in Christchurch have been volatile since the first earthquake in September, first increasing for a few months, then dropping prior the February quake, and since then have been increasing. Over the past three months values across Christchurch have grown 1.1 percent, and are now 0.5 percent above the same time last year. The increase in recent months is due to increased demand for properties in undamaged areas particularly in the West and North of the City” said Ingerson.

Ingerson said “values across the rest of the Canterbury Region have also increased in recent months due in part to demand from displaced Christchurch residents. Values in Ashburton have grown the most at 4.0 percent over the last three months. Waimakariri District immediately North of Christchurch has increased 2.9 percent and Selwyn District immediately to the West has increased 2.1 percent.”

While unrelated to the QV index, and a less reliable measure of value change, the average New Zealand sales price over the last three months is $414,261 up slightly from the $412,746 reported last month.

The provincial centres have seen some variability in values in recent months with some dropping, others rising and others staying flat. However values in most provincial towns remain below the same time last year. Wanganui is the furthest below last year at -6.8 percent, with Gisborne next at -4.6 then Invercargill at -4.0. Whangarei (-2.7), Rotorua (-2.9), Hastings (-1.0%), Napier (-1.5), New Plymouth ( 2.6) and Palmerston North (-1.0) are all down slightly on last year. Nelson values are at the same level as this time last year while in Queenstown Lakes values are 1.5 percent above last year.

ENDS

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