CoreLogic has identified the top 100 performing suburbs for property value growth since the pre-GFC peak - and the top 92 are all in Auckland.
Kelvin Heights, in Queenstown, was the highest non-Auckland, coming in at 93. Whichever way you cut the data, Auckland and Queenstown dominate the rankings.
More than a decade has passed since the previous peak for New Zealand’s housing market, and tt’s interesting to see how values have changed at a suburb-level.
Our research compared the current median values for each suburb/area compared to their level in November 2007 - when national values peaked pre-GFC at $414,355.
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Since November 2007, national values have risen to $673,797, an increase of 63 percent. But the top-performers have grown at more than twice that rate. For example, Wai O Taiki Bay has had the biggest change in median values, at 150.1% - for this suburb of 431 properties, the increase in dollar terms has been $793,200 since November 2007.
Within Auckland, Glen Innes and Point England have also seen values rise in excess of 130%.
Perhaps most notable though, median values in every Auckland suburb in the top 50 have more than doubled since November 2007. Key factors underpinning this surge have included rampant population growth, low construction levels, and greater access to mortgage finance than in the past.
When looking at Auckland, you also have to note the abrupt slowdown in the aftermath of the third round of LVR restrictions in October 2016 (40% deposit for investors). Hence we’ve also shown this measure in the table, and apart from Parakai, Oneroa and Wai O Taiki Bay, the rest of Auckland’s top 50 have seen values change since November 2016 within a relatively tight and low range of -5% to 5%.
Outside Auckland, one key feature of the table is how Queenstown Lakes shines through, with Kelvin Heights recording the largest gain in median values since November 2007, of 91.9% (with values now sitting at more than $1.70m)*. Twizel is the only non-Queenstown area in the top eight, with relatively low values (currently $455,900), an outdoor lifestyle, and a bustling tourism sector boosting the town.
Overall, the gains in values since 2007 are lower outside Auckland, but even so, all of the top 50 have seen values rise by more than 50%. Again, easier access to finance has been a factor here.
It’s also interesting that many of the non-Auckland top 50 are in and around Waikato and Bay of Plenty (or the so-called Golden Triangle), where the effects of Auckland’s boom have spread out.
Kelvin Davidson is Senior Research Analyst at CoreLogic NZ.
