Sixty-seven suburbs across New Zealand saw house values rise by at least $500,000 over the last five years, an amount that way outstrips most people’s pay cheques for the same time frame.
According to OneRoof’s latest house price index figures show, Auckland is home to biggest number of big-money suburbs, accounting for 28 on the list, but Wellington is not far behind, boasting 22 suburbs that have seen lifts of half a million dollars or more.
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Herne Bay alone, in central Auckland’s luxury waterfront precinct, has made more than $1 million in the last half decade - with $510,000 of that being made in the 12 months since Covid-19 hit the country. The median value in the country’s most expensive suburb is now just over $3 million.
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And while the majority of suburbs on the list have median values of more than $1 million, there are three in Hawke’s Bay where typical house prices are still under the $1 million mark.
The median property values of Te Awa, Ahuhiri and Bay View, in Napier, were all sitting below $500,000 in 2016 but jumped between 117% and 178% in the five-year period to Feb 15, 2021, when the OneRoof latest median property values were taken.
>>> Scroll to the end of the article to see the full list of 67 winning suburbs
James Wilson, director of valuation at OneRoof’s data partner Valocity, says Napier has performed extremely well for the last part of a decade, coming off a comparatively low value base compared to other places.
Driving growth are first home buyers looking at the Hawke’s Bay region as a way to get on the housing ladder, leading to stock changing hands, he says.
Wilson says the huge dollar-value leap in Herne Bay is likely a reflection of high-quality homes selling in low volumes in the suburb, while Edward Pack, a top Bayleys agent who sells in the area, says Herne Bay is “simply unique” and highly sought-after.
Three Napier suburbs have seen house values jump $500,000 since 2016. Photo / Getty Images
“25% of the properties I sold last year were to people repatriating back into New Zealand and a lot of these people, when they think about buying a house in Auckland, think about being close to the water, about beautiful tree-lined streets.
“Herne Bay is very tightly-held with a limited number of properties. Out of those there are almost 100 that are directly waterfront.”
The lifestyle this waterfront suburb offers so close to the city is hard to find anywhere in the world, Pack says.
Other Auckland suburbs which made $500,000-plus five-year value gains include other sought-after suburbs close to the city including Remuera, Orakei, Mt Eden, Ponsonby, Pt Chevalier, Grey Lynn, Kingsland and Parnell.
Parts of the capital have also seen big rises. The median value of Oriental Bay has risen 70% - $915,000 - over the last five years to $2.22 million.
Seatoun, on the east coast of the Miramar Peninsula, which is home to Wellington’s film industry, saw its median property value rise $755,000 to $1.715m and Mount Victoria, with its historic houses and commanding views, rose by $710,000 to $1.345 million.
Also in Wellington, Crofton Downs, an inner city suburb undergoing plenty of development, has seen its median value rise by $590,000 to $1.140 million, in line with other Wellington suburbs, such as Newton, Churton Park, Wadestown, Karori, Houghton Bay, Brooklyn, Melrose, Wilton, Berhampore, Aro Valley and Island Bay.
Wellington has 22 suburbs in the $500,000-plus club. Photo / Getty Images
Wilson says areas such as Miramar and Mount Victoria are seeing strength back in the owner occupier market.
When Covid-19 hit, first home buyers jumped straight in “but now we’re seeing that switch around to that traditional owner occupier market and we’re seeing them begin to come into their own value-wise”.
Seaside havens have also seen dramatic increases over five years. In the Hawke’s Bay, the seaside village of Waimarama has seen the average value go up by $607,000 to $1.61 million, and Whangamata, in the Thames-Coromandel, is up $545,000 to $1.035 million.
Waihi Beach, in the Bay of Plenty, has also seen big value growth, up $595,000 to an average median value of $1.15 million.
Gary Alway, of LJ Hooker Waihi Beach, says a lot of reasons make the area attractive, including fibre so people can work from home.
He thinks the pandemic has made a lot of people realise there’s more to life than being in big cities, but he also says Waihi Beach has always been the playground for the Waikato and another factor in increases could be generations of farmers retiring.
What was once a $500,000 farm is now an $8 million farm and rather than being sold down the generations to children who can’t afford to buy farms are being sold outright with Waihi Beach a great place to retire to.
Wilson says interest in coastal stock has surged over the last year or so with the arrival of cheap money and the fact people haven’t been able to travel overseas.
