'Two-tier' market divides city's average values

Average capital values in Napier's suburbs vary widely. Photo / File

Average residential land values in Ahuriri have leapt more than 25 per cent during the past three years, as home buyers scramble for a slice of the popular seaside Napier suburb.

But, across town in Maraenui, land values have fallen 17 per cent during the same period, according to official figures.

Quotable Value's three-yearly valuation review of the city shows the capital value - combining land and buildings - of Napier's 22,053 residential properties has fallen 0.1 per cent since 2011, while average land values are up 2.8 per cent.

But average capital value changes across the city's suburbs vary considerably, from a 14.9 per cent increase in Ahuriri, to a 6.8 per cent drop in Maraenui.

QV valuer Bevan Pickett said while some pockets of the city had moved significantly, "by and large there's not a whole lot of movement" in values over the past three years.

Napier was a "steady and stable market" but one that had not experienced the housing boom being felt in the Auckland and Christchurch markets.

There had been a disproportionate number of mortgagee sales in Maraenui, which contributed to that suburb's drop in average values, he said.

There was effectively a "two-tier" market operating in Maraenui, he said, comprising good, well-maintained homes on one side and forced sales on the other.

"It's an unfortunate result of a fairly flat market - cheaper housing does suffer."

The average capital house price across the city was $344,000 with average land value at $165,000.

Mr Pickett said the price of Napier apartments appeared to have stabilised over the past years, although values were down almost 10 per cent since 2011.

The average capital value of the city's 2034 business properties was down 5 per cent, while business land value was up 0.6 per cent.

Rents that business tenants were willing to pay had decreased in the past three years, he said.

"We have put up a number of values in the CBD, around the new Farmers [store], which is tempered by the likes of lower Emerson St where there are a lot of vacancies and values have been going down accordingly.

"The challenges of seismic [strengthening] have been prominent in the last few years and it's really good to see the Farmers development [on Hastings St] and other developments around there push through."

Mr Pickett said it was important to remember the suburb values were averages and new individual property valuations varied within each suburb.

Bay avoids Auckland property price boom
Valuation firm Quotable Value residential price movement index for October confirms average property values in Hawke's Bay have remained flat over the past year with the region avoiding the boom seen in Auckland.

QV's figures record a 1.9 per cent increase in average values in Napier over the past year and a similarly-sized drop in Hastings. Values in Central Hawke's Bay were down 0.9 per cent compared to 12 months ago.

QV's numbers echoed those of another valuer, TelferYoung, covered in yesterday's Hawke's Bay Today, with both sets of figures showing this region's values sliding since 2007 while many other markets, especially Auckland, gained strongly.

QV valuer Bevan Pickett said the Hawke's Bay market had been "ticking along steadily in a fairly stable economy. It's not racing, nor is it really bad."

He said the different directions the Napier and Hastings markets had been heading in over the past 12 months was not significant given the changes for each was less than 2 per cent.

"I don't think that's a sign of anything ahead in the medium term. I think it's going to be steady as it goes. We've had ups and downs within a band of a couple of per cent for quite a long time."

Figures for Wairoa had not been included in the latest release of QV information because a small volume of sales in the district meant the data was not meaningful, Mr Pickett said.