Auckland housing market values rise 5 percent in three months

The latest Qotable Value residential housing sales figures further confirm the Auckland housing market is kicking off again, with values in some areas rising 5 percent in the past three months.

Nationally, the QV Residential price Movement Index shows residential property values have increased 0.7 percent in the past three months, or 5.1 percent over the past year.

The figures follow a similar finding by Auckland real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson earlier this week, with both the median and average price of homes it sold hitting an all time high last month along with a boost in the number of sales. The average asking price of homes listed for sale on Realestate.co.nz also hit an all time high of $497,840 in November.

QV said the Auckland market had increased 9.3 percent year on year and is now up 37 percent since 2007, before the global financial crisis.

QV national spokesperson Andrea Rush said there had been a re-acceleration of values in Auckland while residential property values in the other main centres including Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin also showed moderate increases.

"Nationwide there has been an influx of new listings to the market, which is usual for this time of year and this has resulted in an increased number of sales and home loan approvals," she said.

First home buyers have been increasingly forced out of the market by the higher prices and the Reserve Bank's LVR restrictions introduced last October, making conditions more favourable for investors.

"However, this could change if the Reserve Bank decides to bring in new rules around lending to investors who own five or more properties, which it has indicated it will be reconsidering early next year," Rush said.

QV registered valuer Bruce Wiggins said he was seeing examples of well presented but not high end properties in Auckland selling for much more than their original purchase price within a short space of time, without a significant amount being spent on upgrading them.

"One North Shore townhouse that sold in the $700,000's three months ago was renovated to a good standard internally and was under agreement in the $900,000's three months later."

The only area in Auckland to buck the upward trend was Rodney District, where values decreased 1.5 percent in the past three months, though they're still up 7.1 percent year on year. The biggest rises have been in south Auckland, where values have risen 5.2 percent since August and 13.8 percent year on year.

Home values in Christchurch have increased 1 percent over the past three months and 3.7 percent year on year while prices were stable in the Wellington region with a slight 0.1 percent rise in the past three months and half a percent year on year. However Wellington house values remain 1.2 percent below the previous 2007 peak.