Has Wellington City’s boom come to an end?

PHOTO: Wellington – NZ

From when the Wellington City property market started to boom (around September 2015) through to March this year, average values rose by 52%, or more than $282,500 (see the first chart). In the past six months, however, that strong upswing has come to a shuddering halt, with values flat since March (they’re currently $827,436). That’s seen the annual growth rate halve from around 8% six months ago to 4% now. What’s going on in the capital’s property market?

The first point to note is that the slowdown has been relatively widespread, not just concentrated, for example, in a few expensive suburbs. Admittedly, as the map shows (second chart), there are still a few pockets of growth, e.g. since March, Tawa, Khandallah, and Te Aro have seen values rise by 1-2%. But many areas have been flat, and falls in values have actually emerged in suburbs such as Wilton (-3.9% since March), Wadestown, Central, Kelburn, Hataitai, Newtown, Berhampore, and Island Bay. Those ‘fallers’ are a pretty broad spread of suburbs by geography and value tiers.