Lower Hutt is on the rise, and seems to be defying the Covid-19 drop that has affected much of the rest of New Zealand.
According to the new Covid index launched by OneRoof and its data partner this week, Lower Hutt property values were up 1.1 percent on March 25, the day before the country went into lockdown.
By contrast, property values in neighbouring Wellington City had fallen 1.36 percent on the index, while Auckland values fell 1.6 percent, Christchurch dropped 3 percent and Queenstown Lakes values were down 7.7 percent.
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The only other territorial authority to see an increase on the index was Rotorua, up 4.6 percent, but unlike Lower Hutt, where sale volumes have been healthy, Rotorua's low sales volumes make that market hard to measure with accuracy.
Lower Hutt's current median value sits at $635,000, about $200,000 below Wellington - a major factor in its growth (five years ago the region's median value was $350,000 while Wellington's was $490,000).
Local agents and market experts report that the region has become a magnet for buyers priced out of the Wellington market. The short-commute time to Wellington - 20 minutes, depending on traffic - is another drawcard.
Diane Cummings, managing director of Cummings Kilgariff & Co Realty, says Lower Hutt has, in effect, become a satellite city for the capital, with newly opened shops and galleries and events adding shine to region.
“Back in the day, the perception was that Lower Hut was not a desirable place to live,” she says.
65 Naenae Road, in Naenae, Lower Hutt, sold post-lockdown for $636,500. Photo / Supplied
That's no longer the case. Cummings says she mainly deals with first home buyers and families who are upsizing, as well government workers relocating from the capital.
“A young couple who have a baby and are now having a second baby, and are living on the side of the hill in the capital, they don’t want to be taking a car seat up 57 steps. They want to walk to kindy, walk to the play centre and have a lawn. You can’t have a lawn in the capital,” she says.
Cummings says there is a shortage of homes in the first home buyer price range. “Anything under $800,000 has people falling all over it.”
Her firm recently sold a “tired two-bedroom home with potential" at 65 Naenae Road, in Naenae, for $636,100 - $50,000 above its rating valuation and a record price for a two-bed home of that quality in the suburb, Cummings says.
Toll Poppy agent Kris Chappel says Lower Hutt offers Wellingtonians a lot more house for the money they would be spending in the capital.
“You can get a lot more in Lower Hutt. People are often surprised by how much land and space they get here compared to Wellington. There you can buy a two-bedroom for a price of a three, possibly four-bedroom in Lower Hutt,” he says.
Opes Partners economist Ed McKnight says the Greater Wellington region had been severely undervalued for some time, with prices now “astronomically increasing”.
“Over the last five years we’ve seen house prices across Greater Wellington rise as the region played catch up with the rest of New Zealand housing market," he says.
“And first home buyers are pushing up prices in those lower priced suburbs."
Bindi Norwell, the chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, says that Lower Hutt's popularity is having a flow effect to other neighbouring regions.
The rise prices "has forced many families to look further afield to the likes of Upper Hutt and Kapiti although prices there have also risen 30 percent and 74 percent respectively over the last five years”, Norwell says.
One of the key price drivers over the last year or so, she says, has been the lack of supply in Lower Hutt.
“Total inventory in the Wellington region tends to be around the 10-week mark, which is one of the lowest in the country, meaning that good properties sell quickly and for a good price, which has continued to force people out of the region for some time now."
