Auckland property values continue to surge ahead of the rest of the country, with the average residential property value in the region rising 13% in the year to February, according to Quotable Value.
The average New Zealand residential property value now sits at just under half a million dollars, after increasing by 3.1% in the three months to February (up 6.4% for the year to February) to $498,614, acccording to the QV Residential Price Movement Index.
In Auckland, where demand for properties considerably outstrips supply, the average value is now $786,106, up a whopping 5% over the three months to February and up 13% for the year.
The 5% increase in Auckland values over the last three months was surprising because it includes December and January, which are usually quiet months for the property market.
If property values in the region continue to increase at that rate for the next nine months, they will be rising at an annual rate of more than 20%.
However in Christchurch and Wellington, property values are rising much more slowly.
In Wellington the average property value rose 1.6% to $457,557 in the three months to February, providing an annual increase of just 0.9%.
In Christchurch, the average property value rose 1.3% to $473,083 in the three months to August, which was up 3.4% for the year.
"The seemingly insatiable demand for Auckland property has resulted in the upward trend steepening on the QV Residential Price Movement Index," QV National Spokesperson Andrea Rush said.
"Values in Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin are all showing moderate increases but nothing compared to the pace of Auckland values, which continue to surge ahead," she said.
Within the Auckland region, the annual increase in property values ranged from 7.1% in Rodney North to 16.1% in the sourthern suburbs within the boundaries of the former Auckland City Council.
The only places in Auckland where average property values are below $500,000 are Manukau Central ($493,404), Papakura ($474,949) and Franklin ($488,424).
Refer to the table below for QV's average property values throughout the country and their percentage changes over the last 3 and 12 month periods:
| Territorial authority |
Average current value
$ |
12 month change
% |
3 month change %
|
Since 2007 market peak change %
|
| Far North |
305,841
|
1.1
|
-0.1
|
-23.2
|
| Whangarei |
341,855
|
1.9
|
1.3
|
-13.7
|
| Kaipara |
345,996
|
7.3
|
3.0
|
-12.8
|
| Auckland - Rodney |
701,966
|
8.4
|
3.9
|
19.7
|
| Rodney - Hibiscus Coast |
699,245
|
9.6
|
4.3
|
19.0
|
| Rodney - North |
705,236
|
7.1
|
3.5
|
17.4
|
| Auckland - North Shore |
924,579
|
12.4
|
5.4
|
43.3
|
| North Shore - Coastal |
1,060,843
|
12.2
|
6.4
|
40.8
|
| North Shore - Onewa |
747,256
|
13.2
|
4.9
|
50.7
|
| North Shore - North Harbour |
879,851
|
10.9
|
3.5
|
44.8
|
| Auckland - Waitakere |
617,267
|
13.6
|
6.0
|
45.6
|
| Auckland - City |
938,466
|
14.6
|
5.2
|
50.8
|
| Auckland City - Central |
811,493
|
12.1
|
4.5
|
42.5
|
| Auckland City - East |
1,176,965
|
14.8
|
4.9
|
47.7
|
| Auckland City - South |
848,043
|
16.1
|
5.7
|
57.5
|
| Hauraki Gulf Islands |
814,239
|
11.3
|
9.0
|
27.4
|
| Auckland - Manukau |
652,233
|
12.2
|
4.6
|
42.5
|
| Manukau - East |
855,612
|
10.6
|
4.7
|
43.6
|
| Manukau - Central |
493,404
|
11.0
|
4.0
|
31.3
|
| Manukau - North West |
548,107
|
15.1
|
4.9
|
48.4
|
| Auckland - Papakura |
474,949
|
10.9
|
5.3
|
32.0
|
| Auckland - Franklin |
488,424
|
7.9
|
1.5
|
23.5
|
| Thames Coromandel |
517,797
|
3.1
|
2.3
|
-10.9
|
| Hauraki |
248,804
|
-1.1
|
6.5
|
-10.9
|
| Waikato |
291,653
|
4.2
|
3.9
|
-3.7
|
| Matamata Piako |
286,522
|
6.4
|
7.0
|
-1.8
|
| Hamilton |
373,846
|
3.0
|
1.7
|
3.4
|
| Hamilton - North East |
470,575
|
3.3
|
1.6
|
4.7
|
| Hamilton - Central & North West |
346,260
|
1.7
|
2.3
|
-3.3
|
| Hamilton - South East |
347,532
|
3.4
|
2.6
|
-0.6
|
| Hamilton - South West |
327,143
|
2.4
|
0.3
|
-4.4
|
| Waipa |
353,253
|
5.7
|
2.3
|
7.3
|
| South Waikato |
127,996
|
-1.9
|
1.3
|
-21.6
|
| Taupo |
342,193
|
2.4
|
2.6
|
-14.6
|
| Western BOP |
427,043
|
6.2
|
1.2
|
-5.2
|
| Tauranga |
461,731
|
4.8
|
1.4
|
-4.1
|
| Rotorua |
272,091
|
-1.3
|
1.2
|
-7.3
|
| Whakatane |
297,148
|
2.7
|
1.0
|
-14.6
|
| Kawerau |
109,707
|
5.6
|
7.3
|
-31.1
|
| Gisborne |
228,052
|
-3.7
|
0.0
|
-23.3
|
| Hastings |
299,904
|
-0.6
|
1.1
|
-3.8
|
| Napier |
329,604
|
1.9
|
1.0
|
-3.1
|
| Central Hawkes Bay |
208,515
|
4.0
|
2.9
|
-21.3
|
| New Plymouth |
355,304
|
2.6
|
02
|
7.4
|
| Stratford |
189,706
|
-5.9
|
-4.2
|
-13.2
|
| South Taranaki |
182,486
|
1.1
|
-2.1
|
-7.7
|
| Ruapehu |
133,210
|
-8.9
|
-1.3
|
-26.1
|
| Wanganui |
180,604
|
-1.9
|
-0.7
|
-19.4
|
| Rangitikei |
143,469
|
-1.2
|
0.3
|
-20.7
|
| Manawatu |
242,108
|
1.2
|
0.9
|
-4.8
|
| Palmerston North |
290,500
|
1.1
|
0.7
|
-2.6
|
| Tararua |
148,830
|
-2.1
|
-2.1
|
-15.6
|
| Horowhenua |
200,826
|
0.4
|
-1.9
|
-15.6
|
| Kapiti Coast |
379,567
|
2.9
|
0.3
|
-0.9
|
| Porirua |
378,330
|
-0.3
|
-0.3
|
1.0
|
| Upper Hutt |
335,918
|
-0.3
|
0.5
|
-4.4
|
| Hutt |
374,157
|
-0.5
|
1.6
|
-4.7
|
| Wellington |
545,830
|
1.7
|
1.5
|
2.5
|
| Wellington - Central & South |
555,523
|
2.4
|
1.9
|
-0.8
|
| Wellington - East |
591,878
|
2.3
|
0.9
|
2.7
|
| Wellington - North |
480,124
|
1.7
|
2.3
|
3.0
|
| Wellington - West |
617,682
|
-0.1
|
0.2
|
1.7
|
| Masterton |
237,430
|
-0.6
|
-0.1
|
-16.9
|
| Carterton |
270,106
|
3.5
|
2.9
|
-3.1
|
| South Wairarapa |
298,795
|
-1.3
|
0.0
|
-11.7
|
| Tasman |
422,236
|
2.6
|
1.7
|
5.1
|
| Nelson |
408,151
|
1.4
|
-0.2
|
6.6
|
| Marlborough |
348,794
|
1.8
|
1.2
|
-10.6
|
| Kaikoura |
358,887
|
3.9
|
2.3
|
-16.9
|
| Buller |
192,955
|
-7.5
|
-4.5
|
-6.1
|
| Grey |
219,885
|
2.2
|
-0.4
|
-10.1
|
| Westland |
231,494
|
0.8
|
1.3
|
-3.6
|
| Hurunui |
338,745
|
-0.9
|
1.3
|
8.4
|
| Waimakariri |
415,705
|
0.4
|
1.0
|
29.8
|
| Christchurch |
473,083
|
3.4
|
1.3
|
24.7
|
| Christchurch - East |
353,513
|
3.2
|
0.8
|
14.2
|
| Christchurch - Hills |
628,444
|
0.9
|
0.7
|
13.6
|
| Christchurch - Central & North |
555,000
|
4.5
|
1.3
|
25.3
|
| Christchurch - Southwest |
455,106
|
6.2
|
2.1
|
34.1
|
| Christchurch - Banks Peninsula |
480,553
|
-3.4
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
| Selwyn |
516,099
|
4.9
|
1.5
|
38.4
|
| Ashburton |
325,894
|
3.8
|
-0.4
|
16.4
|
| Timaru |
294,692
|
7.1
|
1.2
|
17.4
|
| MacKenzie |
313,642
|
5.3
|
11.9
|
9.5
|
| Waimate |
205,733
|
3.5
|
2.9
|
9.1
|
| Waitaki |
221,857
|
1.8
|
0.1
|
-2.9
|
| Central Otago |
317,764
|
1.1
|
-0.4
|
0.2
|
| Queenstown Lakes |
705,964
|
6.7
|
2.0
|
2.7
|
| Dunedin |
292,179
|
1.2
|
0.2
|
2.1
|
| Dunedin - Central & North |
302,167
|
1.6
|
0.5
|
0.1
|
| Dunedin - Peninsular & Coastal |
270,161
|
3.4
|
1.9
|
-0.2
|
| Dunedin - South |
278,073
|
-0.4
|
-0.1
|
-2.6
|
| Dunedin - Taieri |
303,385
|
1.4
|
-0.2
|
3.2
|
| Clutha |
165,847
|
4.2
|
-0.4
|
-8.4
|
| Southland |
206,707
|
3.0
|
0.2
|
-10.2
|
| Gore |
183,099
|
-1.3
|
0.2
|
4.2
|
| Invercargill |
209,243
|
1.7
|
2.3
|
-5.1
|
| Auckland Area |
786,106
|
13.0
|
5.0
|
43.8
|
| Wellington Area |
457,557
|
0.9
|
1.6
|
0.4
|
| Main Urban Areas |
588,268
|
8.1
|
3.7
|
28.1
|
| Total NZ |
$498,614
|
6.4%
|
3.1%
|
20.3%
|
No chart with that title exists.
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60 Comments
Good news for those holding property but not good news for those still at school or university and who are not in a position to get into the market yet. This says a lot about the luck involved in terms of timing. I was born in 1955 and have never had a mortgage of more than a hundred thousand and my current residence has a multi million valuation.
This info is not very helpful .
Where , for example , is NORTH HARBOUR ?
There is no electoral area called North Harbour ( There is an upper Harbour electoral area )
There is a Post Office called North Harbour Mail Centre located in the middle of the Industrial Area of Albany .
Maybe QV needs to have a link that tells us what makes up some of these areas , otherwise its pretty meaningless info
Born and bred in Auckland..will soon leave it the Boomers, overseas students and overseas land bankers (my friend on dairy flat is surrounded by chinese who have brought it all up). Troubles me to see the city go down the gurgler..quality of life over paper gains for me. Have fun ratepayers as the council goes on a spending spree for the services you demand.
Compulsory purchase of land by the Government or Auckland Council in Dairy Flat at rural values before rezoning it residential would send a message to overseas land bankers that the rules of the property market are there to serve all Aucklanders not just land owning vested interests.
Why do we let landbankers hold our whole economy hostage? Why is it that Bill English can rant against the 20 planners in AC for damaging New Zealand's macroeconomy but National is silent about the effect landbankers are having on Auckland's residential section prices?
It makes me sad to say but you are dead right frazz. I'm also a born and bred Aucklander and leaving was the best financial decision I've ever made. Where I live now wages are roughly double what I could earn in Auckland and houses cost less.
The plan was always to save up a big deposit and come back to Auckland one day - but I'm not sure I'd even want to now.
Yes the plan was to come back to bring up the kids as well ZP. Many of my friends have also left and those that make the big money offshore are not planning to return to Auckland. The smart younger ones will see it for what it is...greed, vested interests, ...rigged ponzi game (luckly the FHB are not allowed to play). When the Boomers come to cash up who will have the 1/2 million deposits?
Singapore at 4 is good, Texas might as well be a country and all three metro areas are hovering around 4 while enjoying growth rates about double Auckland's.
It's really not hard to find places around the world that are bigger than Auckland, growing faster than Auckland and have better quality houses at about half the price.
What do people find it so hard to understand that it is all about the price of a small square of dirt and very little else?
Texas - much bigger supply of houses.
Singapore - what is the average m^2 dwelling size? I'll bet you it's way smaller than NZ average dwelling size.
Auckland is a different kettle of fish.
Property prices are not going to burst in the next 2 years at least. What will happen? Landlords will smile, multiple property owners will smile and losers will whine.
You heard it here first folks.
I am reading Irrational Exurberance by Prof Shiller at the moment which looks into all things bubble. One of the things he notes is that there is always a narrative for each bubble that varies depending on the local story. This narrative always claims that for reasons x and y that the local bubble will continue. It varies by place and each place thinks they are different. Every time it is proved wrong.
So to all of you who say Auckland will keep rising because of migration, supply, regulations, tax, the flying spaghetti monster says so - this is just the Auckland narrative. Reversion to the mean awaits.
Its almost a complete Irony.... Everything I've read ,over the years ,suggests that the single best thing that a city can have ... in order to have real , vibrant economic growth with a good standard of living...., is to have affordable Real Estate....
Affordable for both Commerce and business and also for people.....housing.... reasonable Rents....
This is one thing that Auckland City could have had an influence on....
Their answer to economic growth is to have emissaries in foriegn cities .... to attract highly skilled people.... I wonder what other schemes they have going..??
" in order to have real , vibrant economic growth with a good standard of living...., is to have affordable Real Estate.... Affordable for both Commerce and business and also for people"
Very true. I was in Berlin back in October and the number of small businesses, bars, galleries, pop-ups whatever was amazing. Really vibrant, creative. Some serving high-end food to business travellers in run down warehouses, others just servicing a local need. Many of these will fail but plenty will thrive. Berlin is becoming the preferred tech hub in Europe partly as a result of that access to cheaper space to experiment (our company in London have just had another developer leave to go to Berlin).
The cost to Auckland will be high in the longterm with brightest and best leaving to kick start dreams elsewhere, coming back to rear kids when they've built their empire in another city.
Out this side of town (eastern bays) it seems that most exciting business ventures are in retirement homes. It's the only growth I see. I'm thinking to make money you have to have a biz that takes a chunk of that cash from retirees when they sell up the family home and downsize. How about "Zimmer", a dating app for 70+?! Or mediation services to stop the kids killing each other over your legacy? A commuter jet boat to Omaha beach?....
The South Sea Company was PPP created by the British Government. The idea behind it was that owners of British debts would swap their "lottery tickets" (the modern equivilant would be bonus bonds) for shares of the company. The charter for the PPP was monopoly trade with South America. Though the British were at war with Spain who had Control of South America, there was no chance of a profitable trade, nor was one ever conducted.
Lacking an actual business plan, the company spent its time and money on marketing, causing a buying frenzy amid wild speculation of great wealth to be had. The share price went from just over 100 up to a peak of nearly 1,000 before its even more spectacular crash back down to 100.
When is the MSM going to wake up and report the "Elephant in the Room" ..... it does not matter how many new houses/apartments are built in Auckland, as this does absolutely nothing to curtail foreign funds bought into the country, whether in cash or borrowed at 1-1.5% ...... if locals could get access to a 1% interest only loan, then we will have a "level playing field" ...... we should do what Aussie has done and limit all non-resident buyers to brand new builds but "fat chance" will never happen here .....too many "vested interests".
Impossible
It is not the responsibility of the MSM - they can only work with data that is available and then draw conclusions based on fact
Until factual data is provided, the news media are hamstrung
All they can do is demand better information or point to the trees that is sheltering the elephants
When are the public going to wake up and realise most of the MSM has no interest in reporting anything that could dampen the real estate mania. NZ Herald is the case in point - hand picked articles to cheerlead the bubble onwards and upwards and lots of potential news stories that are skimmed over. Recent example - I didn't see any reporting on the new enforcement regime for foreign buyers in Australia or the KPMG report on bankers concerns around foreign buyers (please correct me if there was coverage of these). But sure enough there is a big headline today about record Auckland prices.
When you connect the dots and see where MSM receive significant advertising revenue from it all begins to make sense...
Odd comment... why would the MSM report anything but the truth? QV, REINZ, etc say Auckland values are going up so that's what the MSM reports, why would they say anything else? Do you expect them to lie? When it comes to the opinion pieces I see plenty of articles from doomsters, in fact, more from the doomsters than those predicting rises.
When even the slums of auckland, south and birkdale (salisbury road, where the lady was murdered walking home from the bus stop after work), are selling for more than prime wellington suburbs, something has to be seriously wrong, or at least seriously unsustainable
Homocide and related offences:
Wellington Police District: 2011/12 - 7, 2012/13 - 10, 2013/14 - 4 TOTAL - 21 (murders 14) - 0.2 per 10,000 of population in 2013/14
Waitemata Police District (including West Auckland and North Shore): 2011/12 - 6, 2012/13 - 3, 2013/14 - 11 TOTAL - 20 (murders 13) - 0.1 per 10,000 of popluation in 2013/14
Total crime per 10,000 population in Wellington police District 2013/14: 730.3
Total crime per 10,000 population in Waitemata police District 2013/14: 555.7
If you own an average priced house in Auckland your house is probably making more than you do! If you own several properties...
The LVR move was ingenious by the RB, unless you're trying to get into the market as a FHB of course. Now even when there is a downturn practically no property owners will be underwater.
As incredible as it seems, even with the price rises being what they are I don't see it stopping in Auckland for another 2-3 years. Then I concede there will have to be an adjustment. Not until many tens of thousands of houses are built first though.
That almost sound like a institutional business model built on control of demand and supply. We might be onto something quite unique for a Brave New World. The obvious next step is to make it all-encompassing for the younger generations. Perhaps the ultimate goal is to nuture entrepreneurship, risk and creativity among younger people through closing down options for an outdated "typical" NZ life. Perhaps that's ultimately not a bad idea.
Foreign investors I speak to see Auckland property as a bargain, they compare to Sydney and Melbourne on a $/sqm basis and see our property as very cheap. I suspect we'll see the average Auckland house price over 1m within 2 years. We'll also likely be the first country to raise rates in the developed world which makes our NZD attractive too.
Everyone who justifies Auckland property quotes the supply and demand imbalance. Agree that supply is slow to ramp up. However when this bubble bursts (which it will) it will be the demand side that drives it. Lets look at the drivers of demand 1) Interest rates - a function of our economy, 2) Net immigation - a function of our economy 3) nvestor confidence - a function of our economy, inward bound capital, jobs, sentiment.... the list goes on. All of the factors that drive the demand equation are highly correlated. As soon as our economy turns (which it will) prices will fall. The higher they go the further they will fall. Fact.
The huge increase in values in Auckland City South is pretty good evidence that there is a lot of demand for properties within a reasonable drive or bus trip to the city. There needs to be more development in the areas close to the city and not just a lot of sprawl at the end of the motorways. Unfortunately the NIMBYs are stopping almost all development.
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