First timers and investors drive growth
FIRST-HOME buyers continue to drive the wider Wellington housing market, CoreLogic reports in its latest quarterly update.
Australasia’s largest provider of property information and analytics says first-time buyers accounted for 31 percent of house purchases in the three months ending September.
“Lower Hutt exceeded that average (34 percent), as did Porirua (32 percent), but Wellington City (28 percent) was more subdued.”
The report says movers were “generally pretty quiet” while mortgaged investors’ share of purchases climbed from 25 percent of buyers earlier in the year to 27 percent.
“Wellington City itself has been a key factor here, with mortgaged investors accounting for 31 percent of purchases in Q3, the highest figure since Q3 2016,” CoreLogic says.
“Continued rental growth in the capital may well be enticing a few investors to increase their portfolios.
“Across all investors combined (mortgage and cash), the rebound lately across wider Wellington has reflected growth from smaller players.”
Across Wellington City, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt, average property values rose by 0.8 percent over the past three months, and by 7.4 percent annually.
“That continues a pretty consistent year so far,” the report says. “Annual growth has hovered around 7-8 percent for much of 2019 (and a good chunk of 2018, too).
“By sub-area, Wellington City has cooled a bit recently, Porirua is still rising consistently, but it’s the Hutt Valley that is outperforming – Upper Hutt values are up by 15 percent annually, and Lower Hutt by 13 percent.”
CoreLogic says Carterton, Masterton, and South Wairarapa are still recording double-digit annual growth in property values.
“Although Kapiti Coast is a bit further back, the property market there is still pretty solid too (8.5 percent annual rise in average values in year to September).”