The average Whanganui property price rose 4.3% in 2024, a “spectacular result” and far higher than the national average.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the average property in Whanganui now cost $564,000, not far off the market peak of $614,000 in March 2022.
“If current market conditions continue, [Whanganui] is going to be one of the standout performers of 2025,” he said.
Whanganui Central, which covers the CBD and stretches from Cullinane College to Hatrick St East, was the best-performing suburb in 2024, with a 9.1% ($36,000) rise.
The average price there now sits at $430,000 but it is still the cheapest suburb to buy in, with Castlecliff next at $447,000.
Gonville rose 7.4% in 2024, followed by Springvale at 4.8% and Whanganui East at 4.7%.
Westmere was the priciest suburb at $1.03 million but the average price there rose only 1.6% last year, the lowest of all areas.
Property Brokers Whanganui branch manager Ritesh Verma said the drop in property prices post-Covid-19 was not as bad in Whanganui compared to other centres.
According to OneRoof data, Wellington prices dropped 24.5% since their peak in 2021, with Auckland falling 17.7%.
Palmerston North and Horowhenua both dropped by about 17%.
“I think we’ve come out reasonably unscathed and if you bought during the peak, you’ll be okay,” Verma said.
“In the scheme of things, if you bought pre-Covid, you’re well up.”
He said it would still be tough for those who bought during the peak and now had to sell.
“That’s where a little bit of pain is but that’s not the majority of the market. I would say it’s 10% to 15%, if that.
“Overall, I think we’re in a great space.”
Verma said there was a lot of property stock coming on to the market and, historically, February and March were two of the three busiest months in terms of sales.
“We are not anticipating that to change.”
Every Whanganui suburb had an average property increase in 2024.
In October last year, 90% of banks’ new mortgage lending was either floating or fixed at one year or less, according to the Reserve Bank.
Vaughan said people were “hedging their bets” when it came to potential interest rate drops and the Reserve Bank had indicated another cut to the Official Cash Rate (OCR) in February.
Last November, it cut the OCR by 50 basis points to 4.25%.
“Whether [home loan rates] go below 5% remains to be seen."
Bayleys Whanganui real estate agent Karen Bukholt said people had “woken from their Christmas slumber” over the past week, with four properties going under contract.
“We took a property to market and had multiple offers on it within days, but it’s in the mid-range price range where that’s occurring,” she said.
“You’ll find the bottom end of the residential [market] will take off before things begin working their way up.”
Fellow Bayleys Whanganui agent Knud Bukholt said Whanganui’s price increases over the past decade were like towing a trailer with a rubber band.
“Whanganui is the trailer,” he said.
“The bigger centres take off with a hiss and a roar and we take up the slack, then when they stop, we crash into the back of them.
“Quite often, we can jump higher than expectations.”
Vaughan said the average property price in the Manawatū-Whanganui region was down 0.2% year-on-year at the end of December.
Tararua rose by 2.1% but Horowhenua, Ruapehu, Manawatū and Rangitīkei dropped marginally.
Palmerston North remained the same at $669,000.
The rise in Whanganui prices last year was a “spectacular result”, he said.
