Frances Cook and OneRoof's Need to Know series set the record straight on the home loan process.
Herne Bay home owners are now hitting Lotto first division with every house sold as the suburb's typical sale price edges close to $3 million.
The prestigious neighbourhood's homes now have a median value of $2.955m - just $45,000 away from being New Zealand's first suburb to break the $3m mark.
Its typical sale price jumped $660,000 in the past year with about half the increase coming in the last month and a half as Auckland's housing market ran super hot, analysis by property website OneRoof and data partner Valocity showed.
By comparison, a typical Auckland worker would need to spend almost 10 years toiling in a full-time job to earn the same amount.
Or put another way, Herne Bay values effectively jumped $1808 every day in the past year.
That is equivalent to Herne Bay homes bringing in almost double a typical Kiwi's weekly $1189 full-time salary every day for a year.
Aucklander Helen Hill and her husband said the massive price jumps had made house hunting very difficult.
The couple sold their first home just after March's Covid-19 lockdown and spent the past five months hunting for a new home before finally managing to buy this month after compromising on their choice of location.
"Places like Herne Bay are out of this world," Hill said of her hunt in more modest suburbs.
"We missed out at several auctions and we had to start looking outside central suburbs to get something within our price range."
Their tough house hunt came as Auckland's market shocked pundits by going on a run of record price rises every since New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdown in March.
The city's median sales price jumped above $1m for the first time October. The record selling prices were being driven by a "fear of missing out" among buyers and all-time low-interest rates that made home loans cheaper.
Valocity director of valuations James Wilson said Herne Bay had long led the way, being the first New Zealand suburb to reach a $1m median sales price back in 2004, before crossing the $2m mark in 2015.
Herne Bay's gorgeous waterfront and mega-mansions have led homes in the surburb to now typically sell for about $3m. Photo / Supplied
Now, just five years later, it was on the cusp of breaking through the $3m mark as luxury home owners joined the house-buying frenzy.
"That surge has been the result of buyer demand at the top end of the market outstripping supply," he said.
Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said Herne Bay's status as New Zealand's most exclusive suburb - home to real estate tycoons, Hollywood stars and celebrities - was obvious.
"Herne Bay properties often have expansive grounds, swimming pools and many have panoramic views of the Waitematā Harbour," she said.
Real estate agent Blair Haddow, from Bayleys Ponsonby, said it was no surprise the suburb's median sales price was hovering around $3m.
"Anything nice is $3 million-plus. Under $3 million is probably a do-up," he said.
"The demand [for Herne Bay homes] has been unprecedented, and it's being driven by lots of different factors like returning expats, people whose houses aren't big enough or too big. I think it will carry on into next year, too - it may even get busier."
Herne Bay home sellers aren't the only ones counting their pennies.
According to OneRoof-Valocity figures, there are now 10 Auckland suburbs with median property values of $2m-plus, up from three a year ago.
Saint Marys Bay is second on the list with a median $2.7m sales price, followed by Whitford on $2.5m.
New members of the club include Westmere, Ponsonby, Remuera, Epsom and Glendowie, all of which jumped by between 20 and 30 per cent in the last year.
The number of $1m-plus suburbs in the city also jumped, up from 123 a year ago to 179 now.
Across the country, 280 suburbs recorded median value increases of $300,000 or more in the last year - 64 of them in Auckland.
"And just nine of the city's suburbs are in worse place now than they were at the start of the Covid crisis," Valocity's Wilson said.
"At the start of November, that number was 36, which shows just how fast the market is moving."
Steve Koerber, from Ray White Remuera, said his agency had been doing record monthly sales for each of the past few months, and the buying frenzy had now led to a shortage of homes for sale.
"There have been so many sales recently that Remuera's dipped down to just over 100 listings, and many of those are apartments, new builds, off the plan sort of things."
Derek von Sturmer, of Professionals Point Chevalier, said his office sold 20 houses last month, more than double what he'd expect in a normal November.
"I've never seen anything like it. The inquiry has been around the clock, 24/7," he said.
National house prices had also jumped to a new record high of $730,000.
That included Wellington's median property value sitting just $10,000 short of $1m for the first time ever after its prices jumped $240,000 in the last 12 months.
"Christchurch house prices, too, have smashed an important psychological barrier," Valocity's Wilson said.
"The city's median property value had sat persistently below half a million dollars for five years, but first home buyers and investors upped their game there in recent months."
Of the 72 district areas across New Zealand measured in the Valocity data, nearly half had annual growth of 20 per cent or more. Wairoa, Rangitīkei and Gisborne experienced the biggest increases.
