Frankton among $1m suburbs club

New Zealand’s $1 million suburbs club has gained seven new members this year.

Data from homes.co.nz shows areas around the country joining the list of suburbs where average house prices run into seven digits.

The new arrivals were Frankton, in Queenstown, Jacks Point, Queenstown, Britannia Heights, in Nelson, Lake Okareka, in Rotorua, Matapouri, in Whangarei, Redwood Valley in Nelson and Khandallah in Wellington.

While Queenstown properties generally command at least a million dollars, Rotorua and Nelson suburbs were standouts for their region – Rotorua has an overall median HomesEstimate of $422,000, up 15.8 per cent year-on-year, and Nelson a median $528,000.

‘‘Despite a soft market in Auckland, prices in many of the regions continue to grow,’’ said homes.co.nz data scientist Tom Lintern.

‘‘The secret’s out for Nelson, Queenstown, Rotorua and Matapouri. All have suburbs where the average value has exceeded $1m for the first time this year.’’

Auckland has about 100 suburbs with an average HomesEstimate exceeding $1m, of a total 160. The average HomesEstimate for whole city is $1.1m.

Data from CoreLogic shows there are now 17 suburbs outside Auckland worth more than a median $1m.

Top of the list was Kelvin Heights, Queenstown, with a median value of $1.75m.

Nick Tuffley, ASB chief economist, said that, over time, the number of $1m suburbs would grow.

‘‘As long as we see New Zealand having population growth and any degree of consumer price inflation you are likely to see house prices over a long period of time go up in value,’’ Tuffley said.