Our property hotspots
House prices in sleepy beach outpost outpace upmarket areas in sales this year, says big real estate firm
Property prices in the sleepy seaside suburb of Beachlands have been hotter than anywhere else in Auckland so far this year, says the city’s biggest real estate agency.
Beachlands, which lies about 40km east of Auckland’s CBD, had a median sales price rise of 64 per cent in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016, and tops Barfoot & Thompson’s list of property hotspots.
Barfoot & Thompson has produced a Top 20 list of hottest suburbs. The list contains a diverse spread of suburbs including upmarket areas — with Parnell at number three, Kohimarama at four and Takapuna at six — and traditional working- class areas.
Favona, near Mangere, had the second biggest rise, up 37 per cent on the same period last year. Glen Innes and Mt Wellington also made the top 20, rising 18 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
Unlike previous booms the growth in the last two or three years had been spread right across Auckland, said Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson.
The list of top 20 suburbs is calculated using the greatest percentage of sales price growth, comparing median sale prices in each suburb during the same periods of 2017 and 2016.
Barfoot & Thompson is Auckland’s largest real estate company, selling around one in three Auckland residential homes.
During the January to June period 58 per cent of homes sold by Barfoot & Thompson had fetched over $ 1.2 million. The median sales price for the period was $ 1.34m, up from just $ 549,500 in 2007.
Local resident Garry Larsen said he wasn’t surprised by the Beachlands boom.
Larsen has been in the suburb for more 15 years, a relatively short time compared with some residents, but had seen huge change.
New housing developments and a new shopping centre had brought increased population but it was still very much a lifestyle spot, he said.
“It has a special lifestyle because you have come through the rural area into Beachlands and when you’re there it’s completely different to town. You know you’re out of the hustle and bustle.”
Despite the long drive it was a short journey by ferry to the city, he said.
Larsen, a maritime police officer, makes that commute each day, something he says a lot of people are now taking advantage of.
“Beachlands is an area of Auckland that many people appreciate for its beautiful beaches, almost rural feeling and tight- knit community,” said Barfoot’s Thompson.
With the big development going on in Beachlands it was logical for it to be number one, he said. “Development in the area is attracting buyers and contributing to the sales price.”
Barfoot’s Beachlands branch manager Russell Joblin said the big rise in value reflected the area’s desirable mix of rural, beachside and city living. New subdivisions had increased the number of available properties and the development of a new town centre and supermarket had added to the appeal.
Broadly Auckland’s market has peaked and has been cooling in the past six months.
Barfoot & Thompson monthly statistics showed the average sales price in June dropped 3.1 per cent compared with the average for the previous three months, and was only 0.6 per cent higher than it was 12 months ago.
Thompson acknowledged that prices had begun to “mellow” in the first half 2017, but said it was only the past two or three months that they had actually started to fall.
The data showed that, year on year, there had still been good growth and that there was good demand in the most desirable suburbs.
Barfoot & Thompson has also released a Top 20 list for price growth across the past decade.
Those numbers put in sharp contrast the scale of the boom compared with recent falls. The biggest riser across that period, Takapuna, was up by 197 per cent.
But it shows many cheaper areas such as Glen Innes and Glen Eden had also risen well in excess of 100 per cent.