Sluggish property market springs to life
Sellers are asking for higher prices for their properties, despite reports new lending rules could be taking some heat out of the housing market.
Trade Me Property data shows the average asking price for a New Zealand house has risen again, up $6000 last month to a record $597,250.
Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the housing market had warmed up in the three months to August.
‘‘The sluggish property market we’ve seen recently is starting to gain some traction again as we shift into spring.’’
The average asking price is up 7.1 per cent on the same time last year.
It comes after QV reported that activity was slowing due to the new requirement that investors nationwide have a deposit of at least 40 per cent to buy.
Jeffries said the site was not yet experiencing a material effect on the back of the loan-to-value changes.
‘‘Our expectation is that we’ll see the level of investor purchases fall away because of tightening restrictions. We do anticipate the LVR changes will cool the Auckland market faster, as the scope of incremental lending there is too high. Investors will likely look at re-balancing their portfolio for provincial areas.’’
Trade Me’s spring resurgence saw Auckland sellers’ asking prices up $7000 over the month to a new high of $858,900.
‘‘The City of Sails saw figures up over 11 per cent compared to August last year, an annual increase of $88,000. It’s well below the record rise that we observed a year ago when it was up an eye-popping $130,000,’’ Jeffries said.
Excluding Auckland, the national average asking price rose 0.7 per cent in the month, and was up 9.2 per cent over the past 12 months to a new record high of $444,350.
Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Northland continued to see double-digit annual growth in average asking price, all reaching record levels. Waikato rose 19.2 per cent or $73,450 to $455,050. The region was surpassed by Bay of Plenty, up 17.4 per cent or $81,300 to $549,300. Meanwhile, Northland was up 14.1 per cent or $54,750 to $442,600.
Only two regions showed negative shifts in average asking prices this month, with Hawke’s Bay and the West Coast seeing a fall in annual figures, down 2.3 and 5.5 per cent respectively.
Bigger properties in particular are experiencing growth.
‘‘Large homes saw a rise in average asking price of 13 per cent on last year, to a new record of $1.08 million. This is an additional $127,100 over the past year, a hefty increase of more than $10,000 per month,’’ Jeffries said.