What do Fordlands, Glenholme, Pukehangi, Owhata and Western Heights have in common?
They are Rotorua's best-performing suburbs post-Covid-19 lockdown.
As the one-year anniversary of the lockdown approaches, the latest OneRoof-Valocity house price index reveals how suburbs have tracked since March 25.
Fordlands was the top-performing suburb climbing 18.2 per centin median value to $305,000, while Glenholme came in second jumping 17.8 per cent to $622,500.
Lynmore was the worst-performing suburb dropping 0.8 per cent to $845,000 and Ngongotahā 6.1 per cent to $580,000.
Managing director of the Realty Group Ltd, which operates Eves and Bayleys, Simon Anderson said all suburbs were in demand.
"All the rules have been thrown out. The old rule book on buying property has been thrown out in the last year. People have transacted where they can."
However, he said buyers were doing less due diligence when it came to buying property.
"Buyers have become more aggressive in their decision making.
"We've seen more first-home buyers in the market because interest rates have been so low, as well as clever funding through other means."
Anderson said there were more auctions happening in Rotorua and multiple offers on properties were common.
But he said the market would start to settle and "we'll go back to the true basics of property, which is location, location, location".
"The market will start to level out and find a happy medium."
Tremains Rotorua sales manager Megan Davies said lockdown caused people to reconsider travel plans and want to invest in bricks and mortar.
She said lockdown had meant there were more cash or market-ready buyers out there.
Fordlands had turned from an "unlikely to appeal" to an "all I can afford" suburb, while Glenholme had a good mix of demographics and people moving out to retirement villages, she said.
"The more villages and elder care available, the more sales will pop up in Glenholme as it's been popular as retirement living."
Davies said Lynmore was a stable suburb at the higher end of the market.
"But I would say that people will spend on large, new homes in sparkly new areas, and the appeal of the traditionally-prestige suburbs is waning."
Davies said more developments would see the market continue to grow.
"But we do need to see subdivisions that are carefully thought out with parks and leisure areas to avoid mass urban sprawl and diminished prices when the newer one is finished up the road."
Harcourts Rotorua sales manager Michelle Matthews said values in most suburbs had increased substantially since lockdown, with the exception of Lynmore and Ngongotahā.
Overall, Matthews said the market had been exceptionally strong with most properties attracting multi offers.
"Deadline sale along with auction marketing has increased considerably and become very popular.
"The number of properties going to auction is considerably higher, taking advantage of the competitive nature of the process."
But Matthews said with the continuing shortage of stock, it was unlikely the market conditions would change any time soon, especially with low-interest rates prevailing.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand and First National Rotorua principal Ann Crossley said the post-Covid market went "totally against" predictions.
Crossley said market trends post-lockdown had been driven by a change of attitude towards property.
"People had time to think about what was important to them and if it happened again where they'd like to live. That's driven the trend out of Auckland."
Moving forward, Crossley said a major market influence would be lack of supply.
"We've started to think about different ways of people being able to secure a home before they sell.
"People are afraid to sell because there's nowhere to go. It's about unblocking that roadblock going forward."
Professionals McDowell Real Estate co-owner Steve Lovegrove said lockdown had affected buyer behaviour.
"Previously, buyers were more particular about aspects of building or LIM reports. They would pick up on small details of a property that might not be as they should and would expect price reductions or to renegotiate.
"Now, we're finding buyers are not so fussy about aspects of a property that might need work. They will look past that to make sure they can buy for fear if they decline to buy the property they would have to go back to square one and compete with other buyers."
Looking to the future, Lovegrove said there was not likely to be any relief of pressures on prices.
"That will only come into view until there's a clear line of sight on a fairly large increase in the availability of new property."
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the post-Covid housing market surge, fuelled by low-interest rates, plus the return of the loan to value ratio restrictions meant many first-home buyers in the city faced steep deposit requirements.
"It is getting harder for first-home buyers to save for a deposit."
James Wilson, director of valuations at OneRoof's data partner Valocity, and head of research Wayne Shum said the Rotorua housing market entered lockdown with strong value growth.
According to the Valocity Covid-19 Index Rotorua was up 10.4 per cent, with a current median value of $600,000.
"Buyers appear to have adopted a cautious wait-and-see approach, especially evident among investors as they wait to see what happens to the area.
"This is most evident among investors whose share of new mortgage registrations is at 19 per cent, whereas first-home buyers' share of new mortgages have increased 25 per cent.
"Movers continue to exhibit a very cautious mentality, representing only 10 per cent of new mortgage registrations."