Is your spare room worth $350,000?

Who else wished they had a bigger house with an extra room for an office as you worked from home for two-month lockdown period?

Turns out the price tag of an upgrade isn’t cheap, and it hasn't fallen in four years.

Economists have calculated that it cost at least $125,000 to up-size your house to gain one extra room.

And in central Auckland that extra room - for junk, or for the quiet work-from-home office, could cost you as much as $350,000.

Senior property economist Kelvin Davidson from CoreLogic says these figures, based on house price data from the past four years, show it is still pricey to pay for an extra room in when you are buying a house.

"It’s still not going to be easy for people who want more space to trade up, but no doubt those with post-covid job security and approved finance may well be looking for these opportunities,” Davidson says.

The value of an upgrade is the difference between median values of three-bedroom and four-bedroom dwellings.

“Now shifting to the trade-up premium itself, the figures have actually been relatively stable over the past year around the main centres, although there have been falls in Auckland City and Tauranga – in other words, it’s got a little bit easier to move up the ladder in these two markets,” Davidson says.says.

The biggest rise in Auckland property market is in the North Shore where the cost of an extra room rose from $230,000 last year to $252,000 now.

“Households who traded up in the North Shore last year, when the trade-up premium toughened, may have got their timing spot on.”