Waipa¯ median house price hits record $700k
Waikato has recorded a record high in median house prices for May with one district seeing an almost 20 per cent increase in price on last year, according to the latest REINZ report.
The Waipa¯ district’s median house price hit a record high of
$700,000 in May – up more than
$100,000 in a month. The average median sales price in April this year was
$590,000.
The district, encompassing Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Pirongia, saw a 19.7 per cent increase yearon-year with the average sales price of $585,000 in May
2019. A total of 44 properties sold in the district compared to 95 in May the year before.
‘‘There has been a movement of buying properties out of the central Waikato areas and into Waipa¯ which has been a popular move,’’ REINZ Waikato regional director Neville Falconer said.
‘‘It indicates activity in the upper end of the market, interest in more expensive homes, but it’s too early to know if it’s locked in a higher median or if it will settle a bit more.
‘‘I think we need to see a couple more months of those more normal volumes to see if that median stays there.’’
Waikato is one of three regions that had record median sales prices in the month of May.
The region recorded a 9.5 per cent increase in median sales of
$598,000 – up from $546,000 at the same time last year.
House prices increased in all areas except Taupo¯ , contributing to the record high, Falconer said.
Record prices also happened in Hamilton City recording a median sale price of $645,000 with
184 properties sold in May compared to 336 in May 2019.
Matamata recorded a recordhigh sales median of $585,000 with 22 sales compared to 70 for May last year.
‘‘There is a healthy level of buyer inquiry with lots of investor inquiries but not as many sales with many hopeful that prices will drop in coming weeks – although there are a few signs this will actually happen.
‘‘Some opportunist buyers are making low offers on properties, however vendors are generally appearing confident and staying the course given the imbalance between supply and demand.’’
Falconer said the number of buyers outweighed the number of listings on the market, leading to multi-offers exceeding asking prices.
He said two factors will play into the market in the coming months: employment and how that will impact on people’s ability to pay a mortgage; and zero net migration into New Zealand as that is typically a significant driver of sales in the middle to upper level of the market.
‘‘The next few months will be very interesting to see what takes place there. We may see those medians drop a little.’’
The median price has steadily been increasing over the past two years but the effects of lockdown were starting to be seen with it taking longer to sell properties.
Median house prices increased by 6.9 per cent in May to $620,000, up from $580,000 in May 2019.
‘‘Median house prices in May were slightly more reflective of what we would expect to see as a result of a global pandemic, in that there was some volatility in prices with five regions seeing prices fall from April to May,’’ REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell said.
‘‘But what continues to surprise us is the fact that there are still regions with increases in median price and that there are still regions experiencing record median prices – a far cry from some of the doom and gloom predictions that were immediately touted when Covid-19 first hit the country.’’
Norwell said it may be too early for the full impact of price declines to be showing through. The annual price increase was likely a continuing effect of demand outstripping supply with the number of properties available for sale decreasing by a fifth to the lowest level of inventory since records began.