Which Kiwi streets have the most street cred?
When I was growing up in Scotland, there was one street that everyone in my hometown aspired to live on. I didn’t live on that street, but if I did it would have been a sign that I had made it in the world – even if my bank account was in perilous state and I drove a Lada instead of a Lambo.
Certain street addresses lend their residents status in ways that flash suits and expensive jewellery don’t. And it’s not just about real estate prices or the size of the homes on those streets. People just know that that’s the street where all the millionaires live.
In New Zealand, the most prestigious is, according to most of the Kiwis I’ve talked to at barbecues, Victoria Avenue, in Auckland’s Remuera. The street maybe a hotchpotch of homes – some stately and imposing, others modest (I think there are even a few brick and tile units still left) – but it’s still the go-to address when people are asked about expensive homes, even though other parts of Auckland, like waterfront Herne Bay or Paritai Drive in Orakei, have claimed more real estate records.
Start your property search
So it was a surprise to see in Ray White’s latest data dive into expensive Kiwi streets that Victoria Avenue has overtaken neighbouring Arney Crescent and Herne Bay’s Marine Parade.
The median value of homes on Victoria Avenue over the last three years is, according to the Ray White research, $6.65 million. Helping Vicky Ave to that winning number has been a run of big sales on the street, including last year’s sale of Grant Dalton’s former mansion for $20m (by New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Karen Moore).
Grant Dalton’s former mansion on Victoria Avenue sold for $20m last year. Photo / Supplied
Ray White senior data analyst Atom Go Tian says the research “further emphasizes Auckland’s dominance in the luxury property market. Victoria Avenue commands a price more than four times higher than Hamilton’s top street, Roy Hilton Drive at just $1.58 million”.
He also identified the streets with the lowest median value, and if you are at that other end of the housing market, the findings are invaluable.
“The market floor can be found in Murupara, a small town in the Bay of Plenty region, where Oregon Drive is New Zealand’s cheapest street at just $183,000. This is closely followed by two streets in Ohai, Southland: Birchwood Road ($197,000) and Hastings Street ($199,000),” Tian wrote.
“Notably absent from this list are properties from any of New Zealand’s major urban centres, with all 10 cheapest streets located in smaller regional towns or rural districts.
“This geographic pattern appears to be the inverse of what drives premium property values in New Zealand’s most expensive locations. While Auckland’s premium streets achieve their status through proximity to harbour views and urban amenities, the most affordable streets reflect their distance from economic centres and employment opportunities. Most of these locations share common challenges: declining traditional industries, geographic isolation and limited economic diversification.”
Last year, Tian helped OneRoof with a list of Australia’s most expensive streets, which helps put New Zealand prices in perspective.
Top in Australia, and streets ahead of anything in New Zealand, was Wolseley Road, in Sydney’s Point Piper. The street’s median sale price last year was A$23m – three times more than the median sale price of New Zealand’s most expensive street.
All change at the top
Like bookies at the track, real estate agents and commentators thrive on numbers, which can seem a bit geeky to those on the outside, but house price stats do influence market sentiment. One data set which agents eagerly await each month is the house price index and sales figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.
February’s figures are due to land soon, and they’ll be the last collated under Jen Baird, who this week announced she was stepping down as REINZ CEO to join Bayleys Real Estate. She will be heading up their Auckland residential team, which has now fully absorbed UP Realty, the boutique brand Bayleys bought in 2023.
Baird’s announcement came one week after Adrian Orr exited his role as Reserve Bank Governor. I don’t have any extra insights into that change, but as OneRoof columnist Kelvin Davidson pointed out this week, it’s unlikely to significantly change the direction of travel for the Official Cash Rate.
Outgoing REINZ CEO Jen Baird. She is heading to Bayleys Real Estate. Photo / Supplied
When Baird joined REINZ as CEO in 2021, she sat down with OneRoof and opened up about her career to date and what she wanted to achieve as the “voice of real estate”. Funnily enough, real estate was never on the cards when she was growing up: “At one stage I wanted to be a truck driver but my parents thought I would be a teacher. I was always interested in learning new things, and in teaching others.”
Bayleys CEO Mark Macky told OneRoof: “We’ve come into 2025 with plenty of momentum [and] we’re really excited to get Jen on board. She’s a strong leader with some great experience and is very client-focused. I think she’ll add a lot to the Bayleys brand, particularly in the Auckland market.”
On the market in general, he says: “We’re certainly through the worst of the real estate cycle and we’re seeing sales volumes return to normal-ish levels, still well down from the peak through 2020-2022. With a large amount of stock on the market we’re not expecting any upwards price pressure in the coming months. Good properties well marketed by the right agent will still get a premium, but there is a lot of choice for buyers at present and any scarcity of supply is still a long way off.”
- Owen Vaughan is editor of OneRoof.co.nz. You can contact him with any property tips or story ideas at owen.vaughan@nzme.co.nz
