PHOTO: Trading up
The price gap between three and four bedroom properties has fallen in many parts of the country over the past year, suggesting that it’s become a bit easier to ‘trade up’. The gap, or trade-up premium, is still sizeable in parts of Auckland, but this is also where property values have recently fallen the most, e.g. on the North Shore. Of course, given the LVR rules and the banks’ own cautious lending practices, some would-be movers up the housing ladder won’t have been able to capitalise on a smaller trade-up premium.
CoreLogic Senior Property Economist Kelvin Davidson writes:
About a year ago we looked at the difference in median values between three bedroom properties and four bedroom properties across the country to try to quantify the ‘trade-up premium’, or the extra money that needs to be found for somebody to move up from a first/starter home into their next step up the ladder*. We’ve now updated the figures, and it’s really interesting how things have changed over the past year.
READ MORE VIA CORELOGIC