Queenstown is finally off life support and feeling the heat, with buyers at the luxury end of the housing market feeling confident enough to buy sight unseen.
The South Island tourist town, which is home to some of the most expensive houses in New Zealand, has recovered from the near knock-out blow it suffered as a result of Covid-19.
In the months after the pandemic struck, Queenstown house prices fell sharply, with the town's median property value dropping 7.7%.
But the latest OneRoof-Valocity house price index figures, covering the month to January 15, showed Queenstown's property value was up 6.1% on where it was on March 25, 2020 - the day before the country went into lockdown and the housing market endured a two-month-long shutdown.
Start your property search
The stunning around occurred over the heated closing months of 2020. In the house price index figures for the month to December 15, 2020, Queenstown was down 0.5% on pre-Covid levels.
The new median property value of $1.115 million is the result of heightened market activity by investors and first home buyers taking advantage of low interest rates.
The 12-month gain for the town is a whopping $105,000.
According to the latest OneRoof-Valocity house price index figures, none of 72 territorial authorities is in a worse position now than it was before Covid-19 struck. The biggest risers on the index were Ruapehu (+21% to $295,000); Hastings (+20.7% to $640,000); and Lower Hutt (+19.6% to $600,000).
Wellington now has a median property value of more than $1 million. Photo / Getty Images
Wellington's median property value crossed the $1 million mark for the first time - gaining $30,000 in the last month (and $220,000 in the last year) to $1.02 million.
The capital is now one of six TAs where buyers can typically expect to pay more than $1 million for a home. With a median value of $1.285 million, Auckland's North Shore is the country's most expensive housing market. The median value in Auckland City - home to 13 of the country's 14 $2 million-plus suburbs - was up 24% year on year to $1.225 million, while Rodney ($1.095 million) and Manukau ($1.01 million) saw lifts of between 18% and 22% over the same period. Waitakere inched closer to the million-dollar mark, with a median value of $975,000.
Of the major metros, Hamilton was the strongest performer post-lockdown, recording growth of 17.1% for a new median of $735,000, followed by Tauranga (up 15.2% to $815,000), Dunedin (up 13.8% to $605,000) and Christchurch (12% to $520,000).
The nationwide median value was $750,000, up 13.8% post lockdown and up 21% year on year.
Cascata on Queenstown Hill sold to an Australian buyer sight unseen. Photo / Supplied
Agents told OneRoof that they began noticing the recovery in the Queenstown market in October but activity began to gather pace in the lead-up to the Christmas holidays.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty sold a luxury house, Cascata on Queenstown Hill, to an Australian buyer sight unseen for $6.8 million.
Mark Harris, managing director of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Queenstown, said that this month had been unusually busy. “Januarys are [typically] hit and miss, but this January has been on par with other good years," he said.
“The town has been reasonably busy this summer - not at international tourist levels, but we’re pleased. We’ve got a lot on our books for February.”
Harris said many of the buyers were locals moving around the town, as well as Aucklanders and Australians. He said that Queenstown’s top sale price post Covid was $10 million but he could not disclose the address of the property.
Bayleys Queenstown managing director David Gubb told a similar story of market momentum in Queenstown. “In Christmas and early January we had a lot more people at open homes, and a lot of walk-in enquiry at our offices through the holidays.
“There was a lot more competition at the December auctions, and we had a host of new listings through Christmas and January.
“We’ve got 27 properties at our first big auction on February 12 encompassing a range of properties - owner/occupier residences, investment homes, and bare land sections. That number is up sharply from our big auction in May last year.”
He said his buyers were a mix of Aucklanders and buyers from Dunedin, who are investing their growing equity in their city homes into holiday homes in and around Queenstown, with Cromwell a popular buying location.
