A sign of things to come?
See full article from Stuff.co.nz below:
By Miriam Bell
Apartments in Christchurch now command higher prices than apartments in Auckland and Wellington, Trade Me Property says.
The average asking price for Christchurch apartments rose 16% to $748,700 over the year to April, according to the property website’s latest price index. In dollar terms, that was an increase of $101,050.
Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd said it meant the city’s average asking price for apartments was more expensive than its counterparts in Auckland and Wellington.
In Auckland, the average asking price for apartments was $694,950 in April, a decline of 13% on the same time last year, while in Wellington the average asking price was down 4% annually to $688,650.
The increase in Christchurch apartment prices contrasted with the broader market downturn, but also illustrated the city’s urban life was once again open for business, he said.
“Christchurch is in a different position to the rest of the country. It is now seeing people and properties flow back into the city post the earthquake rebuild, and in the past decade Kiwis have changed the way they live, which is seeing increased popularity in apartments.”
Even 10 years ago people would say “don’t buy an apartment, you can’t make capital on it”, but that was not the case any more, and an apartment was a legitimate contender for gains if bought wisely, he said.
But across the rest of the market prices continued to decline in April, with the national average asking price down 11% annually to $862,650, from $968,500 last year, Trade Me’s figures showed.
The national average was also down from $866,000 in March.
Lloyd said when the market was red-hot the national average asking price was close to $1 million, but it had fallen $106,000 over the past year.
But it was important to give homeowners some perspective that the market was not in free-fall, and was just going through a correction, he said.
“What the latest figures show us is that the typical price being asked for a house is up by $167,000 from just over three years ago when the pandemic started, that’s nothing to sniff at.”
Asking prices were down in every region, except the West Coast, over the year to April.
But Wellington had the biggest drop with 14.2%. It took the region’s average to $844,750, which was $140,000 less than the same time last year.
Lloyd said Wellington had hefty price increases over recent years, and so it was not a surprise it was now one of the places with steep declines.
Auckland and Bay of Plenty also had double-digit annual price falls of 13.0% and 11.1%, which left their average asking prices at $1.08m and $884,950 respectively.
The market is not in free-fall, but it is correcting, Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd says.
In Canterbury, the average asking price was down 4% to $695,050.
Cyclone Gabrielle had made its mark on the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay markets, with supply, demand and prices all sliding in a downward trajectory, Lloyd said.
“We knew the two regions’ property markets were going to be affected with the amount of destruction the weather event left in its wake, and we are starting to see it play out.”
Hawke’s Bay’s average asking price fell 9.3% annually to $758,500, while Gisborne’s was down 4.3% to $657,850.
On the West Coast, which bucked the market trend, prices were up 2.6% to an average of $439,450 in April, from $428,450 at the same time last year.
Recent analysis from CoreLogic found residential properties were selling for on average $39,500 less than asking price.
The difference between what sellers wanted, and what they got, was greatest in the most expensive areas of the country, it showed.
