Wellington is $10,000 shy of becoming a $1 million city.
The capital’s heated housing market has propelling the city’s median property value to a new high of $990,000.
The latest OneRoof-Valocity house price index figures show house values in Wellington jumped 28 percent in the last 12 months – more than $200,000.
The city, which has trailed Auckland and Queenstown in the last decade and a half, has become the focus of increased attention, with first home buyers and upsizers taking advantage of low interest rates.
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The boom has been resulted in some sky-high prices, with the wealthy enclave of Oriental Bay becoming the city’s first $2 million suburb.
James Wilson, director of valuations at OneRoof’s data partner, Valocity, said the heat in Wellington was notable. “The capital’s housing market has long been seen as the poor cousin to Auckland, but it has been gaining ground in the last couple of years, with the post-Covid house buying frenzy accelerating the increase in property values.”
Oriental Bay is Wellngton's first $2 million suburb. Photo / Getty Images
Real estate agents say that low interest rates, combined with increased demand, have fuelled the surge in the market
Michael Seymour, the owner of Tall Poppy Real Estate, told OneRoof that Wellington stock levels were up but properties were selling way faster than a year ago.
“Median days on market is 21. A year ago it was 35, so things are selling much, much faster.
“We’ve never seen the numbers at open homes we’re seeing now.”
Seymour said it was surprising that Wellington’s median property value was clipping at the heels of Auckland City, where the median value is $1.21 million according to the OneRoof-Valocity figures.
“If you walk down the streets in Wellington and did the same in Auckland you wouldn’t think they would be closely matched in house prices.”
Less shocking was Oriental Bay’s median property value of $2.195 million, up 20 percent year on year. “It’s a waterfront suburb right in the middle of the city. That doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Seymour said two-bedroom properties were proving incredibly popular with buyers. “If you’ve got a two-bedroom property it will probably be really popular and have high levels of competition," he said.
“They are probably being seen as more affordable from the entry level perspective.”
Seymour predicts the heat in the market will continue into next year.
“I can only feel the market continuing up. The only levers around the demand thing would be interest rates and capital gains tax, neither of which look like they’re going to be tampered with,” he said.
“None of the other little drivers, the LVRs and so forth, seem to really have much impact.”
He added: “All of a sudden property is the thing everyone wants to get into. Interest rates are big factor. The difference between 2.5 and 5 percent interest rates is a massive amount of money.”
