Big price increase for Auckland's top suburbs

Properties in Auckland's "top 20" suburbs sold for $215,000 more on average last year than they had in the previous year. Photo / Doug Sherring.

Auckland's "top 20" suburbs have been revealed in new data that shows dramatic price growth across the city over the past 14 months.

Despite talk of a market slow down, figures shows the suburbs with the biggest increase in sale prices jumped an average of $215,000 from 2015 to 2016.

This represents a gain of 24 percent.

The figures were released by Auckland's biggest real estate firm, Barfoot & Thompson, which has about a third of the local market.

Median sales in seaside suburb Mission Bay shot up 52 percent - with properties selling for an average of $620,000 more than they had in 2015. Photo / Doug Sherring

The seaside suburb of Mission Bay was at the top of the list, with median sale prices rising $620,000 from $1,167,505 in 2015 to $1,787,500 in 2016 - a 52 percent rise.

Property experts QV also had Mission Bay as suburb with the biggest growth and estimated the median home value at $1,769,850 - up 18 percent year on year.

The average house value for Auckland is now $1,047,699, according to the QV quarterly price index. This is up 12.8% over the past year, though quarterly growth had slowed to 0.2%.

Auckland's $2million suburbs Herne Bay and St Mary's Bay failed to make the Barfoot and Thompson list, as did Remuera which is on the cusp of $2million.

According to data from QV, Remuera is at $1,976,950 with an annual growth of 11percent.

The suburbs with the biggest percentage gains in sales price were from both seaside suburbs and more affordable areas of West and South Auckland.

Previously affordable suburbs of Sunnyvale in the West and Weymouth in the South are now at $700,000 and $630,000 respectively. This pushed them beyond the $550,000 figure deemed affordable under the KiwiSaver Homestart grant.

Peter Thompson from Barfoot and Thompson said prices continue to rise in some areas. Photo / supplied

Peter Thompson of Barfoot and Thompson said the representation of suburbs was diverse and each had its "time in the sun".

Eighteen of the areas that saw the biggest gains were new to the "top 20" list.

One Tree Hill was second equal with North Shore suburb Takapuna and had a 37 percent increase from $850,000 in 2015 to $1,165,000 in 2016.

The North Shore dominated the list with more than half the top 20 suburbs from the coastal area.

Auckland's North Shore dominated the list with more than half the top 20 suburbs from the coastal area. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Homes in Takapuna and Belmont, which have strong transport links to the city, sold for 37 percent and 36 percent more than they had the previous year.

Takapuna was the North Shore's hottest suburb with the median sale price increasing $365,000 from $990,000 in 2015 to $1,355,000 in 2016.

The median sales price in Belmont went from $865,000 in 2015 to $1,175,500 in 2016.

Castor Bay, Rothesay Bay, Albany and Browns Bay were also among the 20 suburbs with the biggest gains.

Thompson said the gains on the North Shore could be explained by the trend of buyers trading off a central location for lifestyle.

"Twelve of the Top 20 are coastal, which is not surprising given New Zealanders love of the water," Thompson said.

Thompson said sales figures for January, which is usually a quiet month, remained steady but he believes they may have peaked in some areas.

He was quick to point out some suburbs outside the top 20 had median sales lower than the previous year.

The median sales price in the Inner city suburb of Freemans Bay was $554,000, down 54% or $661,000 from $1,215,000in 2015.

Thompson said this was because of the 122 sales in 2016 most were apartments - compared to mostly expensive standalone houses that sold in 2015.

A boom in sales of apartments can temporarily lower the median sales price of a suburb. Photo / Michael Craig

"There is a building boom in Auckland. The result is more apartments and if any of these things are happening in an area it will affect the median sales price."

Andrea Rush from QV said the slow-down in value growth in the Auckland market brought about by the latest round of LVR restrictions on investors had not affected Auckland's highest value suburbs.

"Some buyers may be have been able to sell and trade up based on recent capital gains if they are selling an existing home and purchasing a new one," she said.

She said any slowing in the market would be balanced by continued record high net migration and the fact that new homes are not being built at nearly the same rate as the numbers of people moving to Auckland.