Private rent prices in Christchurch city continue to rise, with a 13.5% increase in the past year. The Key Housing Indicator report by Department of Building and Housing reported that the city’s average private rent price was $383 for the month of April, above the national average of $357.

New building and residential property shortages have been an issue in Christchurch since major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. With seismic activity easing, the city is now firmly focusing on rebuilding and is expected to play a key role in New Zealand’s economy creating jobs for those both outside and inside of the region. This will only continue to put pressure on the demand for city rental properties.

Christchurch’s 9.4% increase in property values for the year ending April was the biggest increase outside of the tight Auckland market. With rental prices seemingly on an even bigger rise, property investors and landlords are set to benefit from the city’s rapid growth going forward.

Ref: www.dbh.govt.nz

New Zealand property had the highest April turnover for six years with 7,104 houses sold during the month according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

As prices remained solid, the monthly report recognised the impact that the Auckland and Canterbury markets are having on the nationwide price behaviour. The regions accounted for 92% of the increase in the national median price and had individual increases of 13.3% and 10% respectively. Canterbury/Westland continues to have the shortest number of days to sell across the country, whilst demand for available property continues to be very strong in New Zealand’s largest city.

“The Auckland market continues to see strong demand for properties, particularly in the urban area, with any increase in listings quickly being absorbed by sales” said REINZ Chief Executive, Helen O’Sullivan.

Wellington also benefited from the “tail-wind” generated from these strong house prices as they sat 5.1% above April 2012.  REINZ Regional Director, Euon Murrell said that “the Wellington market continues to build momentum with a seller’s market starting to emerge in the mid and lower price brackets and a reasonable balance of listings coming to market compared to sales volume.”

Ref: www.reinz.co.nz

Investors continue to benefit from capital gains in New Zealand property, with the latest Quotable Value report announcing a 7.1% increase in nationwide house values for the year ending April.

Low interest rates and a shortage of supply in New Zealand’s main centres continue to be key drivers in the market which has increased 1.3% in the past 3 months and is now 4% above the previous market peak.

Auckland carries on its surge with values now 12% above the previous year; with Christchurch also seeing a significant increase of 9.4%.

Despite these cities being the leading markets, QV operations manager Kerry Stewart said that value increases are evident throughout New Zealand.

“The increase in nationwide values is now being driven by all the main centres, not just Auckland and Canterbury.”

Stewart said some properties were selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars above their rateable value; such is the demand for property in good locations.

Ref: www.qv.co.nz

Confidence in the New Zealand property market continued over April with record high asking prices announced by Realestate.co.nz.

The national asking price of $447,277 is an all-time high, climbing 6% from the same time a year before. The strongest asking prices continued to come from the Auckland and Central Lakes/Otago regions. The attractive Central Lakes/Otago region which includes tourist hotspot Queenstown had the highest average asking price of $679,987, up 14.1% on last April.

Meanwhile, the Auckland market continued to favour sellers after hitting a record high asking price of $612,167; up 8% on the previous April. Canterbury also had an 8% increase to $411,399 with smaller increases in Waikato and Wellington from the previous year.

Low listings continue to be a significant issue in Auckland and Canterbury with 14 and 16 weeks of equivalent sales respectively; far below the long term average of 39 weeks.

Ref: realestate.co.nz

Elevated activity and new price highs in Canterbury/Westland and Auckland property have pushed the national median house price to a new record high. The March report by Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) shows an 8.1% ($30,000) increase in the national median house price from March 2012 to $400,000, the first time the figure has breached the $400,000 mark.

In the same period, Auckland and Canterbury/Westland have also set median price records of $562,000 and $359,000 respectively. These markets have been under the spotlight with demand outweighing residential housing supply and impacting rising prices.

With further price growth expected to continue strongly, increased prices were not a big enough deterrent for buyers with 8,128 houses sold in March, the largest number of sales in any month since May 2007. This was a 23% increase on February, with houses taking eight days fewer to sell than the previous month.

Ref: reinz.co.nz

Strong growth in the New Zealand housing market has continued during the month of March according to the latest report by Quotable Value.

As expected, housing values have risen with a 6.5% increase nationwide over the past year and a 1.3% increase over the past three months. Auckland property again showed strong year-on-year figures with 11% growth whilst most of New Zealand’s centres continue to flourish with increases in the major markets of Christchurch (7.8%), Queenstown (5.1%), Hamilton (4.6%), Dunedin (4.4%) and Wellington (2.1%).

Again, the constraint of residential housing supply in these areas is identified as one of the significant drivers of growing prices and capital gains for investors.

“The number of properties on the market remains limited, particularly in Auckland. This has constrained the number of sales at a time when buyers have generally shown more confidence and have been keen to purchase” said Jonno Ingerson, Research Director for Qv.co.nz.

Ref: qv.co.nz

The pressure of a tightening New Zealand property market continues as the nation’s largest centres were at the forefront of under- supply in the March report by Realestate.co.nz.

Nationwide new listings fell 3% from February to March, with Wellington and Canterbury experiencing year-on-year falls of 9.9% and 8.6% respectively. Inventories are well below long-term averages in 13 of the 19 regions with Auckland 53% below the long-term average and Canterbury 45% below.

Meanwhile the national mean asking price continued to be solid at $444,883 in March, up 4% from the previous year.

Auckland continues to struggle with supply shortages as property listings dropped 4.6% year-on-year at a time where demand is significant and continuous. This continues to be reflected in house prices with a near-record mean asking price of $610,628.

The market is most firmly in sellers’ favour in New Zealand’s main centres of central Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. This is another positive sign for New Zealand property investors looking forward as low inventory continues to be one of the key drivers for capital gains.

Ref: realestate.co.nz

Economists have forecasted that nationwide average house prices will jump almost $40,000 by the end of the year, with Auckland house prices predicted to rise a further 12 percent over the next year.

The best news for New Zealand property investors is that economists also say that there is no end in sight for this trend with large shortages and panicking buyers driving the market.

According to QV’s latest report, nationwide house values are now 3.2 percent above the 2007 peak, with record high average prices in Auckland reported by the city’s largest real estate company Barfoot and Thompson in March.

As well as Auckland’s average house price predicted to rise by 12 percent, nationwide prices are also expected to increase by 8.6% by the end of the year.

The Chief Economist for the Bank of New Zealand, Tony Alexander, said that these estimates were consistent with other predictions and that the price rise is driven by domestic factors such as in Auckland where a housing shortage has been recognised and therefore people are ‘catch-up buying.’

Alexander said that housing shortages and low interest rates have driven a 31 percent price increase in Auckland and 29 percent increase in Christchurch from the 2009 low and he expects similar rises over the next three years.

“We need to build 13,000 houses a year [in Auckland], but there’s nil and Buckley’s chance of doing that. There’s a long, long way to go before they even get to half of the required level and as the shortage gets worse, the prices go up.”

Ref: nzherald.co.nz/property

Canterbury’s housing shortage is set to continue according to the latest Cantometer report by ASB. The report says that despite an initial lift in building activity for residential properties, housing shortages are still a constraint.

ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley said: “The level of non-residential consents remains very elevated and indicates strong demand ahead in the construction pipeline. In addition, continued lifts in residential building consents provided some offset the decline in non-residential consents.”

This report follows a long-line of reports indicating a residential property shortage in Christchurch city which is leading to increased values and rental prices. The latest report by the Department of Building and Housing revealed a 13.1% increase in average private rents and 7.5% rise in values for the year ending February 2013. The city’s market has bounced back strongly from earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 with investors starting to capitalise on potential capital gains.

Ref: landlords.co.nz 

Sales prices for Auckland property continue to grow, with strong increases in the West according to Crockers’ latest market research.

The data shows that prices in the suburb of Henderson increased a huge 28% from February last year to a median of $464,250 this year. (To enquire about our recent Henderson listing, the Swanson townhouses, click here)

Upper Harbour also experienced a large increase, with median prices rising 31% from $490,000 to $640,000 in the same period. Devonport joined the million dollar club with median sales prices going from $795,000 to $1 million in the past year.

Meanwhile, 93% of investors surveyed in the latest Crockers report expect either the same or improved performance to October/November 2012.

Sales were also high throughout Auckland continuing the active start to 2013. Rodney North reported 39% more sales this year than last, Ellerslie 35% more, Onehunga 65% more and Papakura 56% more.

Ref: crockers.co.nz