Prices hit tipping point: Nothing less than $500k to buy an Auckland home

Reporter·NZ Herald·

2 Sep, 2017 06:17 PM6 mins to read

Aucklanders will be hard pressed to get a house for anything less than $500k. Photo / Michael Craig

The days of getting a house in Auckland for anything under half a million dollars are numbered - new figures showed none of the city suburbs is valued at less than $500,000.

Meanwhile, 85 suburbs are valued at more than $1 million - and three broach the $2m mark.

It's the second quarter in a row this year where estimated median values across the city have hovered above the half-million mark.

The last "affordable" stronghold, Wellsford, on the outskirts of the city tipped over the edge in the last quarter and has continued its skyward rise.

The latest QV Property Report, out tomorrow in the Herald, show the township's estimated median value has risen by $25,350 (4.9 per cent) to $542,700 in the three months to the end of June.

QV national spokeswoman Andrea Rush said higher prices in the city and the subsequent rise in people searching for a more affordable place to buy has been touted as one of the key drivers in the area's growth in value.

"Recent high-value growth in main centres has now priced many buyers out of the cities and they have looked to the regions for more affordable homes or investment properties.

"This rekindled demand has begun driving prices higher in the regions."

The report showed that in Auckland City proper you'd be hard-pressed to find anything that fell into the "affordable bracket" of less than $600,000, barring the apartment-rich suburbs of Auckland Central and Grafton.

At the end of June this year their estimated median values were $518,600 and $548,750 respectively.

Across the entire Auckland region only seven suburbs came in at less than $600,000, including the three already mentioned.

The others were Manukau at $549,750, Clendon Park $560,800, Otara $564,900 and Red Hill $591,450 - all on the southern outskirts.

At the end of July, Papakura joined the more "affordable" club after dropping $1800 in value to $598,700.

This gave those hoping for a helping hand from the Government to get into an Auckland property limited options.

To get a KiwiSaver first-home grant of up to $5000 for an individual or up to $10,000 for two or more buyers, the property must be under $600,000 for an existing or older home, or $650,000 for a new one.

At the other end of the scale, the report showed at the end of July there were 85 $1m+ suburbs, including three over $2m: Remuera, $2.01m, St Marys Bay, $2.15m and Herne Bay, $2.47m.

Stanley Pt, which had made a brief appearance in the exclusive club had dropped out earlier this year and was yet to retain its golden spot, sitting at $1.96m at the end of July.

Rush said despite the consistently high prices, overall the figures showed prices in Auckland's market had begun to slow - due in large part to some of the restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank.

"The underlying drivers in the Auckland market remain in terms of high net migration and the fact that new housing supply is not keeping up with population growth.

"So it's clear that it's the Reserve Bank and retail bank restrictions that have resulted in flat or a drop in value growth in parts."

She said high prices and the tighter restrictions, had resulted in fewer buyers being able to borrow to get into the city's highly priced markets.

"This has resulted in sales volumes dropping to 30 per cent lower than they were over the same period last year."

But among the slight downturn, Rush said there was still growth in suburbs to the north of the city, as well as a couple in the western and central city suburbs.

Harcourts chief Chris Kennedy said there had certainly been an easing in the "frenetic heat" that was once highly visible.

He said the recent drop in sales and easing in prices could also have been influenced by the upcoming election.

"Every three years we see a softening in a lot of markets going into an election."

Although percentage growth in Auckland over the past 12 months has remained in single digits, over the past decade prices have almost doubled.

Across the Auckland region, QV estimated median value grew from $546,469 in October 2007 to $1,044,303 (91.1 per cent) in July this year.

In the traditionally cheaper areas of Manukau City and Waitakere City prices also skyrocketed - up 96. 3 per cent and 93.3 per cent respectively - across the same time.

Manukau City, which was once several grand short of the half-million dollar mark - $457,647 in October 2007 - was now barely $100,000 off $1m. Its estimated median in July 2017 was $898,361.

Waitakere City, which was once even cheaper than its southern counterpart, had risen 93.3 per cent, from just $423,914 at the peak to $819,426.