Property values rising across most of New Zealand

Media release

9th November 2011


Property values rising across most of New Zealand

National property values have continued to gradually rise according to the QV residential property index for October.

“Nationwide property values have been gradually increasing since the start of 2011 and as a result are now 1.2 percent above the same time last year and 4.4 percent below the market peak of 2007” said Jonno Ingerson, Research Director QV.co.nz.

“While initially the upward movement in values was being driven by Auckland and post-quake Christchurch, many other areas of the country are now increasing also” said Ingerson.

“The Auckland City revaluation has now been completed and the capital value (CV) of every property updated. The QV residential property index is based on the ratio between sales price and these CVs. As a result of the changing CVs there has been a slight one-off adjustment to the indices for Auckland, making it appear as if values dropped slightly from September to October. The raw underlying data actually show that values have continued to increase, and the index next month is likely to once again show the upward trend we have seen in recent months” said Ingerson.

“Auckland Area values have increased 2.7 percent over the past year and are now only 0.1 percent below the previous market peak. Within the Auckland council area values in old Auckland City have increased 3.8 percent over the past year, and are now 1.6 percent higher than the previous peak of 2007. Across the rest of the Auckland area values have increased by between 0.2 percent (Papakura) and 1.6 and 4.6 percent (Franklin) apart from Rodney where values have dropped slightly” said Ingerson.

“In Hamilton values have continued to edge up slightly and are now only 0.7 percent below the same time last year. Tauranga has also been increasing very slightly in recent months and is now 0.5 percent below last year. Both Hamilton and Tauranga remain about 12 percent below the market peak” said Ingerson.

“After declining for the first half of 2011, values in the Wellington area have started to rise again and are only 0.9 percent below last year and 7.3 percent below the market peak” said Ingerson.

“Christchurch values continue to increase due to demand for undamaged houses, particularly in the Northern and Western suburbs. Values are now 3.4 percent above last year and only 2.0 percent below the market peak. The areas surrounding Canterbury have also been increasing in value since the start of 2011, with Waimakariri up 5.4 percent and Selwyn District up 4.9 percent since January” said Ingerson.

While values in Dunedin have been volatile over recent months they are currently about equal with where they started the year, but 2.4 percent below the same time last year and 6.8 percent below peak” said Ingerson.

Ingerson said “while there has been a slight increase in new listings in many areas, this has yet to translate into an increase in the number of sales. However looking back over the past 20 years while sales generally pick up in October and November, that trend has been largely absent in the last few years, with any increases tending to be in February and March”.

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 $399,821.

The index shows an increase in values in the last month for most of the Provincial centres in a further sign that values are rallying across the country. Despite these recent increases values remain below last year in most towns with Wanganui (-5.3 percent) and New Plymouth (-3.0) the furthest below. Gisborne and Palmerston North are both 0.3 percent above last year while Nelson is 1.9 percent up following six months of gradual increases.
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