The price of property in Auckland won't stop growing, with the average house now worth just over $1.2 million according to figures from Quotable Value (QV)?. While rampant house price inflation continues across New Zealand, Auckland is experiencing pronounced growth at runaway momentum. Current homeowners are obviously happy with the rising value of their property assets, but the unsustainable nature of the market has also been called a "national disgrace".
QV data showed enormous price inflation in some parts of the city, with the average price in the North Shore having risen by 6.15% in three months alone to an average of $1.38 million?. In the central-fringe leafy suburbs of Auckland, the average price was just over $1.4 million, with buyers needing to go much further out of town to see more affordable prices. Franklin was the most affordable part of the city at $774,789, followed by Papakura at $817,699, and Waitakere at $961,841.
According to separate data from the Real Estate of New Zealand (REINZ), Auckland recorded the most growth of all major centres, with prices up a massive 20.9% to $1,150,000 in 2020. With very few options below $1 million, young couples and families are struggling to purchase property anywhere in the city. Unfortunately, the situation is not much better in the rest of the country, and it's also unlikely to change any time soon.
According to data from QV, property values increased by 5.16?% nationally over three-months to the end of January. The average New Zealand home was worth $815,898?, which was a massive jump of 12.96% from the same time last year. While New Zealand is used to sky-high property prices, this significant leap caught many people by surprise given the novel nature of 2020 and the surrounding economic climate.
Major urban centres in New Zealand continue to show strong growth, with Tauranga and Palmerston North leading the way with 10.46% and 9.19% growth respectively over three months. Smaller regions have also seen strong growth in 2020, with Wairoa District in Hawke’s Bay recording a massive 63.5% increase in median price to $269,750. While this extreme level of growth was far from normal, nine other districts recorded annual growth over 25%.
According to QV general manager David Nagel?, “The larger centres were generally first to show the rapid value growth and this was primarily driven by both first-home buyers and investors competing for the very limited supply of entry-level housing stock... But the market strength has now spread to the higher value locations in the major centres as confidence returns in the post-lockdown economic recovery." Affordable housing campaigner Hugh Pavletich? was much stronger in her words, calling the housing affordability crisis a national disgrace: “This is about right and wrong. This is a severe breach of human rights. That should be crystal clear to anybody holding public office.”
