Hawke’s Bay property market boasts country’s biggest asking-price increase

Hawke’s Bay’s property market could be the most optimistic in the country, with the biggest jump in asking prices for homes in the country.

Latest data from Trade Me shows the national average asking price for a residential property reached $860,750 in October - up 2.4 per cent when compared with September.

Those figures were released this week and showed Hawke’s Bay’s average asking price increased 4.1 per cent to $771,600 in the same period.

That was the biggest increase in the country.

“This was most evident in Hastings, where [asking] prices skyrocketed by 7 per cent to $788,300,” Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd said.

“Whereas two per cent [nationally] may not seem like a lot, it’s the biggest month-on-month increase in almost two years.

“This is confirmation that the market is starting to turn.”

Asking prices for Hawke's Bay housing is on the rise again, according to a real estate website. Photo / Warren Buckland

However, another real estate website, realestate.co.nz, showed a smaller increase on asking prices for Hawke’s Bay, with a 1.3 per cent rise when comparing September with the latest data from November.

Asking prices are just one metric by which to measure real estate trends.

Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said Hawke’s Bay also saw a large increase in demand year-on-year.

She said searches per listing were up 20.6 per cent in Hawke’s Bay for the year to the end of November, which suggests competition is growing in the region.

Meanwhile, OneRoof-Valocity released its updated house values for each region on Friday, which are based on a wide range of data.

Those average values are for all homes, not just those being sold on the market.

The nationwide average property value jumped 2 per cent ($19,000) in the three months to the end of November to $968,000, while Hawke’s Bay’s average house value rose 1.1 per cent to $798,000.

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said Camberley in Hastings as well as Lake Hawea in Queenstown-Lakes recorded the strongest house value growth over the November quarter, with both average property values up 7.3 per cent.

Sale figures for November have yet to be collated.

However, during October, 190 homes were sold across Hawke’s Bay including 85 homes in Hastings district, 78 in Napier, 21 in Central Hawke’s Bay, and six across Wairoa district.

The median sale price price was stable at $700,000 in the region during both September and October.

However, slightly more homes sold in October (190) than in September (174), and houses also sold faster in October at an average of 39 days.

Median house prices have fallen drastically since the highs of late-2021 when the median sale price reached $830,000 in Hawke’s Bay.