Housing still booming in Manawatu

The value of houses in Palmerston North and Horowhenua is continuing to climb, reaching new highs and soaring well above the 2007 market peak.

The latest monthly Quotable Value House Price Index shows Palmerston North’s houses are worth 15.1 per cent more than they were a year ago.

The average value for a Palmerston North home is now at $348,581. This is 16.8 per cent above the 2007 market peak.

QV spokeswoman Andrea Rush said Palmerston North and Rotorua were two regional centres that continued to have steady value growth.

Palmerston North QV valuer Chris Price said there was a clear ‘‘leap-frog effect’’ happening in the housing market.

This meant the heavy demand present in the lower-priced housing tier had moved to a higherpriced tier, and then the next tier, and so on.

Factors impacting on Palmerston North’s market included the development of subdivisions, which were starting to take off, he said.

‘‘There is demand in all price brackets.’’

Horowhenua’s houses are worth 19 per cent more than at the same time last year as the district continues to benefit from roading improvements between Levin and Wellington.

This appears to have stimulated demand for the Horowhenua town’s housing.

The average value of a house in Horowhenua is $258,047.

House values increased in the area by 7.2 per cent in the three months to January..

They are also up 8.5 per cent on the 2007 market peak.

The increase in demand and house prices in Horowhenua was not surprising for Real Estate Institute of NZ Manawatu spokesman Andy Stewart.

He said the Transmission Gully motorway project was a form of encouragement for people from Wellington to buy in the area and commute to work.

Feilding and Ashhurst were also areas with a hot property market.

There were eight houses sold in Ashhurst in December 2016, and Stewart was predicting around the same for January.

‘‘It’s a good number. Ashhurst usually sells between four and six. Eight is good for January.’’

The high demand in Feilding had homes being snapped up after 15 days on the market, which was a lot quicker than the potential 40-to-60-day period present in a housing market with low demand, he said.

Manawatu also had increases across the board – houses there being worth 4.3 per cent more than three months ago, 13.1 per cent more than a year ago and 13.8 per cent more than at the 2007 market peak.

Realestate.co.nz also released data on Wednesday, showing the average asking price in Manawatu/whanganui was up 4.7 per cent on a month ago, sitting at $310,437.

The QV data showed Rangitikei’s year-on-year housing values increased by 8.8 per cent and are up 2.5 per cent in the past three months.

However, the average value is down 9.9 per cent on 2007’s market peak.

The average house Rangitikei is worth $163,111.

Tararua’s houses have increased in value by 4.3 per cent in the past year.

The average house in the district is worth $163,877, down 7.1 per cent since 2007. in