Tararua house prices hit new record
House prices are hitting new heights throughout Tararua, as the district’s relatively low prices and the ongoing anticipation of a new state highway drive up demand.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand has found the median house price hit a record $300,000 in May - a 9 per cent increase from May 2019.
Professionals Pahı¯atua real estate agent Donna Dewar said although most houses were still selling to current Tararua residents, there had been a spike in out-oftown buyers from throughout the country.
Many first-home-buyers in southern Tararua were from Palmerston North and Manawatu¯, looking to escape the higher and faster-rising prices on the other side of the Tararua Range.
The institute put the median house price in Palmerston North at $485,000 in May, 15.5 per cent higher than the same month in 2019.
Dewar said anticipation for the new Manawatu¯-hawke’s Bay highway, which would reduce the commute to Palmerston North, was also making houses in Pahı¯atua and Woodville more attractive.
Property Brokers Dannevirke branch manager Dave Frith said the majority of out-of-town buyers in northern Tararua were from big cities and could easily buy a Tararua house mortgage-free after selling a property in Auckland or Wellington.
Lifestyle blocks were slightly more popular than town properties with house hunters around Dannevirke.
Frith said a lot of people seemed to want bigger properties after being stuck at home during lockdown.
He could understand people still feeling a little stir-crazy. The lockdown was frustrating for real estate agents too, with houses that had garnered a lot of interest unable to be sold, he said.
Institute figures show the average time to sell a house from its first listing rose from 36 days last year to 54 days from the first listing – even as restrictions eased. Frith said the area’s housing market picked up again almost immediately, and the high demand had people looking at traditionally less-popular areas such as Norsewood and
Ormondville. ‘‘A few years ago, you’d struggle to sell anything there. Now people are looking there because it’s close to Hawke’s Bay, and there’s a few good employers [nearby] that haven’t been affected much by Covid.’’
These included the Alliance meat works, Silver Fern Farms in Takapau, a new industrial park in the area and the forestry industry, which continued to be strong, he said.