No stopping house price rises, as Covid uncertainty eases
Palmerston North house prices have continued their inexorable rise, as the market shakes off the wobbles caused by the coronavirus lockdown.
The latest QV figures, released today, show the average house price in Palmerston North climbed to $508,716 in June, a 14.2 per cent rise over a year ago.
QV property consultant Jason Hockly said the city’s housing market was at full steam leading into the coronavirus lockdown in
March, but unsurprisingly hit a wall with the economic uncertainties and unknowns surrounding the pandemic.
But despite lingering uncertainty post-lockdown, sales numbers were bouncing back and the average sale price in the city had steadily risen $259 a week on average over May and June, he said.
There were 426 Palmerston North houses sold in the first four months of the year. With few sales going through at the end of March or in April due to lockdown restrictions, the sales volume for that period was down 37 per cent from the start of last year.
Hockly said the market postlockdown was still volatile. Some
listings attracted significant interest while other properties received little traction, but sales numbers were slowly picking up – particularly after the move to alert level 1.
There were 163 sales in the past two months.
Although coronavirus has thrown in a few wobbles, Palmerston North’s housing market is relatively stable across the board
Real estate agents are reporting a shortage of listings and high demand, with multiple offers coming in for most houses on the market. The strongest demand is for houses at the lower end of the $400,000 to $500,000 price band.
‘‘Generally, the winter period in the last five years have shown some significant strength in the market,’’ Hockly said.
‘‘In my crystal ball, barring any more lockdowns, we are likely to see the market increase for most of the rest of this year at least.’’
Nationally, there’s a General Election on the horizon and there will likely be promises of government spending to bolster the economy, which could keep economic confidence buoyed.
On a local level major developments, such as Kiwirail’s new freight yard between Palmerston North and Bunnythorpe, will increase demand for affordable housing. Hockly said that and the upcoming freight ring road around Palmerston North would likely change traffic patterns in western Palmerston North and make the area particularly attractive for residential developers.
‘‘Bunnythorpe hasn’t really been developed and the area around the town should be well located to provide new affordable housing.’’