Property’s best and worst for 2018
Last year was definitely the regions’ time to shine on the property market.
Data now shows which areas were the best and worst property performers. Take a bow, Bulls, Rangitikei, which according to data firm CoreLogic, took the crown for the biggest jump in median property values – 26.9 per cent. However, if you were buying, your best bet for a bargain was Normanby, South Taranaki, where property values lost 7.6 per cent.
If you prefer to look take a longer term view, CoreLogic’s figures showed the place to have a property in the past five years has been the central North Island town of Kawerau, where values have shot up 138.5 per cent. Queenstown was secondbest up (108.6 per cent), closely followed by Meremere, Waikato (104.1 per cent), and Selwyn Heights, Rotorua (96.4 per cent).
The Queenstown property market also did well in Fernhill (95.7 per cent) Sunshine Bay (88.5 per cent), and Frankton (88.1 per cent). Featherston in the South Wairarapa was sixth with a jump of 91 per cent, while values in Putaruru, South Waikato, bounced 89 per cent and in Hikurangi, Whangarei by 87.3 per cent. However, the years
haven’t been so kind to the South Island’s West Coast, Buller and Christchurch. Over the past five years, the biggest loser was Buller’s Westport, down 18.1 per cent, followed by Reefton (-16.7 per cent), Cobden, in the Grey district (-10.1 per cent). Karoro, (-4.4 per cent) and Greymouth itself (-3.4 per cent).
Duvauchelle outside Christchurch was virtually flat (up 0.3 per cent), as was Paroa, Grey district; Pegasus, in Waimakariri, rose just 0.9 per cent, Akaroa near Christchurch gained 2.2 per cent and Clifton, Christchurch rose 2.4 per cent.
The fastest moving markets – measured by the number of days for sale – were Grasmere in Invercargill and Westbrook in Palmerston North, where houses were snapped up in seven days.
Last year’s most expensive suburb was Auckland’s Herne Bay, where houses were worth $2,672,600. It was also home to the most expensive house of the year which sold for $27.5m.
The cheapest suburb was in Cobden, north of Greymouth where the median price was $149,500. And on the whole, although the Auckland market started to lose steam, most house vendors were still making good money last year.
The Real Estate Institute’s December sales data is not out yet, but between January and November, REINZ’s national median house price had risen 10.6 per cent (to $575,000).
That was only slightly behind the 11.2 per cent growth rate enjoyed over the same period in 2017. Its regional data shows the big winner this year was Gisborne where prices rose 26 per cent.
Neville Falconer of LJ Hooker Tauranga said that Gisborne’s gains were probably at least partly due to its affordability.
Other times the market was a story of supply and demand, such as housing-short Wellington (up 22.4 per cent) and popular Northland (21.2 per cent). Even the Tasman and West Coast area of the South Island got some love, up 17.3 per cent and 15.9 per cent respectively.
Investors’ favourite Manawatu-Whanganui also saw prices rise by 16.8 per cent.
As for what lies ahead, a REINZ spokeswoman said it looked like many of the factors from last year would carry over.
Aucklanders were still moving to the regions to extract maximum value for their money, and favouring Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.
Nick Goodall, CoreLogic’s head analyst, agreed 2019’s property market would be ‘‘more of the same’’. But there were a few wildcards on the horizon.
Loan to value ratio or LVR mortgage restrictions were relaxed on January 1, and by February, the data would show the impact of the Government’s foreign buyer ban. ‘‘If the ban has been effective, purchasing by foreign buyers should have fallen away towards zero.’’
Other factors included the Tax Working Group’s views on a capital gains tax, and KiwiBuild, which – if successful – could begin to address the shortage of supply.