Hamurana top suburb for price growth

Hamilton and Auckland.

Parker said Covid-19 had been beneficial for the lifestyle property market for many reasons, including being able to work from home from anywhere.

Lifestyle property in Rotorua was more affordable than in Tauranga, Auckland, and Hamilton.

“So where I have been seeing a move to trade down, our Rotorua lifestyle blocks are assisting out-oftown buyers with this.”

Parker said a “slow down” in some residential areas had not yet filtered through to lifestyle property demand and Hamurana was “mitigated by the Covid effect”.

However, Rotorua’s late autumn surge seemed to be tapering off.

The city’s average property value fell just 2.5 per cent — or $19,000 — to $792,000.

Springfield had the biggest drop of 3.4 per cent — or $29,000 — to $834,000.

Regionwide, Bay of Plenty’s average property value was $1,071,000, down 0.7 per cent — or $8000 — in the last three months.

House prices were still 2.72 per cent above where they were at the start of the year and 14.3 per cent — or $134,000 — above June 2021 levels.

Whakata¯ne was the only other territorial authority to register growth over the quarter, with its average property value up 2.2 per cent to $819,000.

Managing director of the Realty Group Ltd, which operates Eves and Bayleys, Heath Young said the price drop was not surprising for Tauranga and Rotorua markets.

“Over the last three months, there have been a large number of factors that have impacted on the property market all at once in a real sharp noticeable change in market conditions.”

The reasons were interest rate rises, inflationary pressures and to a lesser extent the direct impact of Covid illnesses resulting in fewer deals being made.

“We are, however, still seeing wellpresented, well-marketed property perform well and are starting to see more and more activity in our auction rooms.”

Ray White Rotorua owner and principal Jacqueline O’sullivan said it was still “very slow out there” in terms of people attending open homes, especially in the lower price range.