Property boom shifts to the regions
Merchandiser Danni Fa’aui and her husband left Auckland two years ago, lured by cheaper houses in Levin.
The parents-of-four sold their house in Warkworth and bought a three-bedroom property with a granny flat and two bathrooms on a full acre for $300,000. ‘‘In Auckland that would be $700,000-plus. We love it.’’
Since moving, they have discovered other migrants from Auckland with the same idea.
‘‘Pay rates aren’t going up but house [prices] and rent are. My hubby is only on one dollar less down here and my pay is the same.’’
Fa’aui said it took her partner, a builder, a month to find work. She found a job immediately.
House prices are rising fast in their new home town – their Levin property is now valued at $460,000.
New Quotable Value statistics show that it is regional New Zealand that is experiencing the greatest property price gains as the rest of the country stalls.
The latest QV House Price Index shows nationwide residential property values for July increased 6.4 per cent over the past year, the slowest annual rate since February 2015.
Values rose by 1.6 per cent over the past three months, nationwide, and were flat in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Dunedin. But provincial centres experienced strong growth. Nelson prices were up 0.8 per cent.
QV spokeswoman Andrea Rush said it was a trend that started last October when new loan-to-value restrictions made it harder for investors to get loans.
Dunedin prices rose 0.6 per cent over the past three months, Hamilton’s 0.4 per cent and Tauranga’s 1.9 per cent.
Some of the strongest value growth in the quarter was in Kaipara and Whangarei, the Hauraki, South Waikato and Waitomo Districts and the Wairarapa. Values dropped in the Tararua, Ruapehu and South Taranaki Districts.
In the South Island, the Queenstown market began rising again after a period of relatively flat growth, up 4.9 per cent over the past three months.
Values in nearby Central Otago rose 4.8 per cent over the same period.