PHOTO: TRADE ME
Auckland house prices hit four-year low, dropping below one million
For the first time in close to four years the average asking price for properties in the Auckland region has fallen below the one million dollar mark.
New Trade Me Property data shows in August 2024 the average asking price in Auckland was $986,750, down 1.3 per cent from July and the first time since September 2020 it sat at less than one million dollars.
Trade Me Property’s Customer Director Gavin Lloyd said that August marked the fifth consecutive month of declining prices for Tāmaki Makaurau.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to prices over the next month as we come into Spring. September results should be able to give us an indication as to whether we’ve just endured a difficult winter, or if drops are as a result of a more structural weakness in the housing market,” says Mr Lloyd.
First home-buyers score four-bedroom home for $900,000 in Henderson Heights
Auckland first home buyers Sam and Pam Gaviola recently purchased their 600sqm, four-bedroom property in Henderson Heights for $900,000 with a 20% deposit after a long search – Pam estimates they attended at least 50 open homes found on Trade Me before they came across their new home.
“While it took us a long time to find the right property, it was actually quite helpful as we could understand our price point and what we were willing to shell out for.”Pam says they were able to get the home at a good price after it had been on the market for a while. The vendor had initially wanted $1.1m, but after a few months advertised the asking price as $999,000. The Gaviolas offered $930,000, knowing that there were moisture issues with the monolithic cladding, but they were confident that Sam, a registered builder, could remedy that. A building report uncovered further issues such as a roof that needed repairs, so they negotiated to drop the sale price to $900,000.
The couple’s KiwiSaver made up half of their deposit, with savings making up the other half. Both Sam (a builder) and Pam (an IT contractor and financial adviser) took on side jobs to earn extra income and credit a lot of their savings to lower rent, choosing small, basic properties to live in while they saved.
They’re pleased with their new home which came in well under the one-million dollar mark.
“It’s all been worth it, we have a large house in a good area, two bathrooms for our teenage daughters, and plenty of parking space for their cars as they get older.”
National prices continue to dip
Nationally the average asking price for August was down 0.8 per cent month-on-month and 2.3 per cent year-on-year to $818,250.
“We’ve not seen prices drop to this level since April 2021 and if we keep seeing consecutive falls, as we have done over the past five months, we could see the average price go below $800,000,” says Mr Lloyd.
Highlighting that it might be a favourable time to buy, Mr Lloyd suggests that if you’re on the lookout for a deal, this could be your moment.
“If everything is in place – with both prices and interest rates dropping – now could be the right time to make your move,” he said.
Regions in the South Island fare better than those in the North
Of the 15 regions Trade Me Property tracks, only five have seen a year-on-year increase in average asking prices with four of those regions in the South Island.
Marlborough (2.8 %), West Coast (1.9%), Otago (6.3%) and Southland (5.5%) all recorded increases over the year with Gisborne the only region in the North to show positive movement with the average asking price up 9.9 per cent to August 2024. Taranaki was flat at 0.1 per cent.
“If we look at the data on a month to month basis (July-August 2024) it paints a similar picture with Hawke’s Bay being the only region in the North showing positive growth, albeit modest at 2.3 per cent. Whereas, in the south only the West Coast and Canterbury declined with falls,” says Mr Lloyd.
“Gisborne is certainly an interesting region to look at particularly over the past six months. In February year-on-year prices were down 9.5 per cent yet come August they were almost up ten percent. That’s a dramatic turnaround in a relatively short time period.”
Size matters
The price of larger sized properties continues to soften with homes of five or more bedrooms down 3.4 per cent in the month to August to an average of $1,396,250.
“Bigger properties in Wellington and Auckland have both recorded falls down 8.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent, whereas Christchurch remained fairly flat down 0.2 per cent,” says Mr Lloyd.
The situation isn’t much brighter for 1-2 bedroom properties in the Capital with prices falling 9.7 per cent to $651,800 in August.
“It’s a grim picture particularly for apartment living in Wellington with the average apartment shedding over $150,000 of its value since April.”
