NZ's housing market

PHOTO: NZ property market. FILE

CoreLogic House Price Index (HPI) shows the nationwide monthly property value growth rate slipping to 1.6%, down from 1.8% in July and well below the recent monthly peak of 3.1% in April..

In areas that have gone through strong growth, the lack of affordability is biting harder with house prices in Rotorua falling -1.9% in August and -2.8% in the quarter.

Queenstown and Whanganui also saw a sharp reduction in the quarterly rate of growth.

Hamilton’s quarterly growth rate fell into the negatives (-0.5%) for the first time in over two years – with affordability once again a significant factor.

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As the market continues to transition towards a more sustainable rate of growth, the focus now is towards the impact of COVID-related lockdowns.

In the short-term, CoreLogic cautions the number of property listings will be impacted which could flow through to increased values.

CoreLogic NZ Head of Research Nick Goodall said, “Through lockdowns it is harder for agents to source leads and for vendors to prepare their property for sale. Tracking of early market indicators, like appraisals generated by agents using Property Guru and RPNZ, shows real estate agent activity has dropped by -52% compared to the week before lockdown. This further tightening of supply could lead to some temporary renewed upwards price pressure as pent up demand competes for limited listings.”

  • Queenstown saw a sharp reduction in the quarterly rate of growth between July (7.1%) and August (3.4%)
  • Whanganui’s rate of growth also fell sharply (8.3% to 4.4%)
  • Gisborne’s quarterly rate of growth dropped below 2% for the first time in a year (1.4%) – yet more evidence of a stalling in momentum after values increased over 38% in the last year (highest annual rate on record).
  • In the main centres Auckland was the only city to see the quarterly rate of growth lift over the month, to 5.7% (from 5.0% at the end of July).
  • Recent value increases have been relatively even across the city with Franklin (7.0%) and North Shore (4.3%) the outliers at either end of the spectrum.

Provincial Centres (ordered by annual growth rate)

  Change in property values Average Value
TA Month Quarter Annual
Rotorua -0.9% -2.8% 19.9% $644,390
Nelson 1.9% 6.0% 21.8% $804,681
Invercargill 1.0% 3.4% 21.8% $441,837
Queenstown 0.4% 3.4% 23.3% $1,391,079
Whangarei -0.2% 1.9% 26.2% $731,063
New Plymouth 2.2% 3.5% 27.4% $655,515
Napier 1.4% 3.9% 34.1% $827,381
Lower Hutt 1.9% 5.5% 36.4% $939,981
Kapiti Coast 1.0% 2.0% 36.8% $919,741
Upper Hutt 2.3% 5.7% 37.0% $892,375
Hastings 2.1% 6.5% 37.2% $814,682
Porirua 2.3% 6.4% 37.8% $953,891
Gisborne 1.3% 1.4% 38.2% $599,244
Palmerston North 1.6% 5.9% 39.1% $725,185
Whanganui 0.3% 4.4% 41.4% $522,220

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