Property values up in June - Auckland leads the charge

Photo / Herald on Sunday

Nationwide property values increased in June, driven largely by the Auckland market - where property values in the city are now higher than the 2007 market peak.

Nationally property values are now just 0.9 per cent behind the same time last year, and up 1.4 per cent across the wider Auckland area, Quotable Value said.

"There is variability across the Supercity with the Manukau area being more or less stable over the past three months, while North Shore and Waitakere have increased modestly," QV's research director Jonno Ingerson said.

Values in the Auckland city area are at their highest-ever level (up 0.7 per cent on 2007 values), largely due to a lack of property listings, demand for established character locations, good school zones and the perception that purchasing in central Auckland is a safe investment.

Barfoot & Thompson said last week Auckland house listings were at a four-year low as winter gloom and a tepid economic recovery sapped home-buyers' appetite to commit to big-ticket purchases.

Wellington was the only main centre where values continued to decline - down more than a per cent since January and 3.3 per cent below the same time last year.

"Uncertainty around restructuring in the public sector may be causing some home owners to take a more conservative approach to the property market," he said.

Ingerson said Quotable Value would not be publishing an index for Christchurch until it had more certainty about the validity of the results there.

"The low sales volumes and patchy activity across large parts of Christchurch for several months now means that our standard index may not be comparable to the index pre earthquake."

Meanwhile the average New Zealand sale price in the last three months was $412,746 up from the $404,057 reported last month.

Values are still down across most regions when compared with last year, but the gap is closing: Whangarei (-4.1), Gisborne (-3.1), New Plymouth (-3.3), Wanganui (-4.0), Palmerston North (-2.8) and Invercargill remain the furthest below last year.

In Napier (-2.1) and Hastings (-1.4) values are still a little below last year, while in Rotorua (-0.2), Nelson (-0.2) and Queenstown Lakes (0.1) values remain similar.

- Susie Nordqvist