Terraced suburban homes a tough sell
A flat housing market is threatening plans for high-density living in parts of Christchurch.
Rows of attached housing built to provide cheaper housing sit awaiting buyers around the city’s commuter belt. Many are at marked-down prices. Others advertised for sale off the plans have not been built.
With Crown-led projects including the 900-home east frame anchor project yet to begin, asking prices for attached townhouses are flat or falling in the city, according to Trade Me.
At Pegasus in North Canterbury, two rows of double-storey lakefront terraced units are almost all empty. The three-bedroom units have been marked down from $559,000 to $515,000, and twobedroom units reduced to $399,000.
Double-storey terraced homes are also being advertised for sale in Halswell, Wigram, Prestons, Kaiapoi and Rolleston.
Urban Edge valuer Natalie Edwards said Christchurch house prices levelling off meant firsthome buyers could afford freestanding homes instead. ‘‘We are starting to see an oversupply of those units in subdivisions as the housing market softens,’’ Edwards said.
‘‘This is the sort of housing we never used to see in the suburbs. It doesn’t seem to be the Kiwi type of living. The target market for them was affordability. Now they are competing with standalone homes on larger selections.’’
High-density housing, including apartments, remained popular in the inner suburbs and central city where amenities were close, she said.
Real estate industry figures indicate house prices in greater Christchurch have been flat in the past few months. Trade Me said asking prices for apartments were rising but townhouse prices were not.
Quotable Value NZ valuer Hamish Collins said good land supply within the city had dampened demand for highdensity homes in satellite towns and outskirts suburbs.
‘‘There’s a lot of them on the market and they’re just sitting there. There seems to be buyer resistance to them when people look at comparable costs of housing,’’ Collins said. ‘‘For $450,000 to $500,000 you can get a house and garden instead, or the same sort of unit closer to town.’’
Collins said high-density housing was selling well from Addington and Linwood right around to Richmond and St Albans.
‘‘Sure they’re attached and probably a bit basic, but the location makes them desirable.’’
Mike Greer Homes built the Pegasus units as the first stage of a bigger development, but company boss Mike Greer said they ‘‘certainly won’t be building any more of those’’.
‘‘We won’t be undertaking any large multi-unit developments in Christchurch for the forseeable future. They’re the first to be impacted with the slowdown because the market for them is price-driven.
‘‘With a kind of oversupply of housing starting to happen, standalone houses are coming back a bit in price, and that’s making attached units less popular.’’
Post-earthquake zoning rules have required a mixture of housing densities in bigger subdivisions. Developers embraced the concept as the cookie-cutter designs and smaller sites provided bigger profit margins than freestanding houses.
Lincoln University senior property lecturer Brent Nahkies said while high-density living in the central city was about lifestyle, in the suburbs it was about affordability.
‘‘There is a market for it in the suburbs, but it may not be very big. There’s always a trade-off. People like room for a barbecue and a pet.’’
There was a difference between market-driven demand for highdensity living, and supply created ‘‘top down’’, he said.