Listings surge creates buyer’s market
Property values in 60 per cent of suburbs higher now than a year ago — but listings surge points to return of buyer’s market
The housing market has swung back firmly in favour of buyers, with the spike in listings numbers easing house price growth across the country.
Property values in most regions barely grew in the three months to the end of March 2024, and in two locations — Bay of Plenty and Gisborne — values dropped.
The pace of property value growth for New Zealand slowed to 0.5 per cent ($5000) over the quarter, according to the latest figures from the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index.
Auckland appears to be losing steam despite recording some highprofile sales in March, including New Zealand’s biggest highest auction sale price. The region’s average property value was up only 0.1 per cent ($1000) to $1.33 million.
However, the figures also pointed to an overall rebound in the market, with property values in 60 per cent of the country’s suburbs up year-onyear.
The strongest lifts in the year to the end of March 2024 were in highervalue Canterbury suburbs, including Merivale and Fendalton, and lowpriced suburbs in West Coast. Mataura, in Gore, however, enjoyed the biggest surge, with its average property value up 19.5 per cent ($50,000) to $306,000. The biggest dollar change year-on-year was in Merivale, where the average property value jumped $252,000 to $1.594m, on the back of strong sales activity in the second half of 2023.
According to the OneRoof figures, property values were up year-onyear in 481 New Zealand suburbs with 20 or more settled sales in the last year.
The figures stand in stark contrast to OneRoof’s house price figures for April 2023, which showed only 114 suburbs were up year-on-year (13 per cent of those with 20-plus settled sales).
Christchurch and QueenstownLakes were the best performing major metros, with prices up year-onyear in every suburb in both centres. Dunedin and Wellington were close behind, with only a handful of suburbs in both down year-on-year.
However, the recovery appears to be taking longer in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, where just over half of the suburbs were up.
The average property value in 21 suburbs (2 per cent of the suburbs analysed) had reached or exceeded their post-Covid peak, with another 64 less than $10,000 shy of a full recovery.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the quarterly figures highlighted the impact of the sudden rush to market by vendors across the country.
“The total number of homes for sale on OneRoof at the end of March was just over 40,000 — up 13.5 per cent year-on-year. New listings for the month were up 36 per cent nationwide on the same period last year, and up 48 per cent in Auckland.”
Helen O’Sullivan, Valocity global CEO of real estate, said uncertainty around the timing of interest rate cuts and muted economic activity was hindering house price growth. “Affordability remains a primary concern for borrowers. So far, most of the market rebound has centred around entry-level segment of the market.
“The proposed changes to the bright Line test and interest deductibility may provide relief to existing investors, but it remains uncertain if the changes will entice investors to enter the market, particularly in the current high-interest rate climate.”