House values in Wellington passed the million dollar mark in the last 12 months, on the back of low interest rates and a post-Covid rush to get on the property ladder.
A recent report by global property analysts Knight Frank named Wellington as the world's third hottest real estate market.
READ MORE: Find out if your suburb is rising or falling
The capital's house prices jumped 30% in the 12 months to the end of March 2021, lifting it 29 places in the global rankings, putting it behind Izmir and Ankara, both in Turkey.
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But unlike in Auckland, where $1m only goes so far, agents report that buyers in Wellington can still secure a house in many of the capital’s suburbs for seven figures.
Tommys’ principal Nicki Cruickshank says a budget of $1.025 million - the city’s median property value, according to the latest OneRoof figures - would be enough to cover a standard three-bedroom house with a bit of a backyard and potentially an off street park but not necessarily a garage.
“It’s almost what you would have classed as most people’s first home, that sort of thing,” she says, adding that her agency was reselling a lot of new build townhouses.
“And that’s a three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse with a car park.”
The same amount would also secure a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in one of newer developments in the central city.
Peter Scott, from Ray White Wellington City, says such apartments would carry a “reasonable” body corp fee of between $7000 and $12,000 a year.
“If you’re going to be located more towards the water then prices would be between $2m and $3m and, of course, the body corp fee would be heading towards $30,000 a year.”
Buyers are unlikely to find standalone houses in the central city for $1m but they may be able to pick up one half of a semi-attached home. “You’ll be on a postage stamp bit of section.”
Further out of the city buyers are more likely to get something with a bit more breathing space, says Scott, but “to be honest, you won’t get a great deal more. If you’re wanting something with a bit of ground and a bit of space it’s not easy.”
The further you go from the centre the more likely to are to find something in that median price range which has a more traditional backyard, he says.
“You might get something in places like Chartwell or Broadmeadows and then you’re heading further beyond Johnsonville, basically, so you’re actually heading out of town quite a long way.
If you’re willing to buy out in, say, Upper Hutt, you might get something really nice, however.
Scott recently sold a four-bedroom home on a quarter acre section in Silverstream, near the golf club. He told Oneroof before the sale he expected it to fetch upwards of $1m.
Scott adds that buyers are looking at what they can get for their money in the capital and realising they are going to have to make some compromises on either what sort of home they want or which location they are prepared to live in.
