Hamilton needs to at least double the number of houses it has for sale if the market is to keep up with demand, real estate agents say.
An increasing number of Auckland families and investors are looking to buy in Waikato, putting upward pressure on prices in the region, with figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand showing Hamilton's median sale price is up $100,000 up from last June to a new high of $660,000.
OneRoof-Valocity’s Covid Index, which tracks value growth since March 25, the day before the country went into a lockdown, similarly shows a bounce-back in Hamilton's housing market.
REINZ regional director for Waikato, Neville Falconer, says he is seeing increased interest from first home buyers, but a lack of available stock is impacting sales.
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"There has also been increased enquiry from investors but they appear less urgent than first home buyers and are waiting to see if they will have better buying opportunities down the track. It is now the expectation that the majority of new listings will attract multi offers due to demand being much higher than supply," Falconer says.
Parks and walkways along the river, including the award-winning inner city Victoria on the River and Hamilton Gardens, have oriented the city back to the Waikato River. Photo / Getty Images
Best city in New Zealand
Harcourts Hamilton Central general manager Brian King says people are finally realising that Hamilton is the “best city in New Zealand”.
Like Falconer, he says strong activity in the first home buyer’s price range is pushing what were the low market prices closer to the middle, and the middle prices to the top.
"Compared to what we thought we were going to be, we’re very busy. The last month has been pretty crazy, with a lot of interest from Auckland area and website enquiries coming from all different countries at the moment,” he says.
Aucklanders, movers and investors are also hungry for properties in the 'Tron, which King says doesn’t have enough stock to keep up with the demand.
“Someone can sell an average house in an average area in Auckland and get a beautiful home in Hamilton in a very good area.”
Every property in the lower priced end of the market is receiving multiple offers, and King says he would need double the amount of stock currently available in that price range to satisfy the demand.
For the higher priced homes and new builds, the north east area of Hamilton (Flagstaff, Rototuna and beyond) is in particularly high demand.
Spreading north
Hamilton has been growing northwards for the past 20 years, as the area has spare land and is now filled with new developments, schools and a commercial centre, King says.
Hamilton inner-city living is also attracting buyers as it is “starting to flourish” with new apartment blocks built, which have a good rental return, he adds.
Lodge Real Estate’s managing director Jeremy O’Rourke, says the spike of Aucklanders and returning ex-pats looking to move to Waikato is noticeably higher post-lockdown.
“We believe this is due to the fact that working from home is the new norm which means you can live and work in Hamilton and easily commute up to Auckland, say, once a fortnight,” O’Rourke says
The new expressways have speeded up the connection between Hamilton, Auckland and towns in between. Photo /Getty Images
With the Huntly bypass now open, Hamilton is only going to skyrocket from here, he adds.
He is optimistic about job opportunities, even in the post lockdown climate, in both agriculture and academia.
Growing opportunities
“The world still needs to eat and the Waikato economy is based on meeting this need, not just in the primary sector, but secondary, tertiary and sectors which flow from it."
While Hamilton city hit its new record, just an hours’ drive away, Waitomo area had the strongest annual growth of 47.7 per cent increase in median prices compared to last year.
Property Brokers agent Mary Tapu, based in Te Kuiti, there’s an influx of investors selling after making a profit from median house prices almost doubling in a year.
Locals who lost their job in tourism hotspots of Waitomo Caves are not the same people selling as they’ve already had their homes secured, Tapu says.
First home buyers from the wider Waikato Region are also actively entering the market.
They would rather commute to work, pay less for a mortgage than they pay for rent, which has increased in the last year, Tapu says.
“People can no longer afford where they’re renting in Cambridge, Hamilton or Auckland and during Covid people have decided that small provincial towns are better to be stuck in at the times of pandemic because we look after each other, we have a small community,” she says.
