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Homebuyers battling Auckland's housing slump are finding hope in the most unlikely locations - blue-chip suburbs.
Information released to the Herald on Sunday reveals top-end areas such as Westmere, Epsom and Kohimarama have suffered the biggest falls in sales and values. In contrast, Auckland's best-performing suburbs include Mt Wellington, Otahuhu and Waiheke Island.
The QV analysis used three levels to read data - median sales price, average sales price and the number of sales since the end of the last quarter.
Kohimarama suffered a decline in median and average sales price of more than $300,000. The figure for Epsom was much lower, but more than $100,000.
The falls could help revive the market in those areas, bringing previously unobtainable homes into the reach of certain buyers.
But that's cold comfort to Graham Tattle, of Direct Reality, the franchisee of Premium Reality's St Heliers branch.
He is fighting a civil case against his former landlord of 347 Tamaki Drive over claims he hiked rent by 30 per cent and changed the locks.
Direct Reality filed for liquidation on June 6 because it could no longer operate but Tattle accepted the market slowdown was also a factor.
"There's a 50 per cent drop in the volume of sales in the area from Parnell to Glendowie," said Tattle. "That accounted for a lot and I guess that in itself is a major worry for a lot of agencies."
The downturn is also hitting provincial areas across the North Island, including Gisborne, New Plymouth and Palmerston North.
QV's Jonno Ingerson said the decrease reflected a fall in sale prices rather than value.
But property investor Kieran Trass, of suburbwatch.co.nz, said people had to accept many homes were unaffordable and it would be a "long slog" until the market corrected itself.
"The reality is to buy an average house in Auckland you need to have a household income of more than $150,000," he said.The boom has turned to bust, Business, p40-41
