A 10-year-old brick and plaster home in Palmerston North fetched $1.419 million at a bumper auction in Manawatū-Whanganui last week, as new OneRoof figures showed house prices in the region rose more than 30% in the last 12 months.
The five-bedroom home on Winston Avenue, in the city’s riverside suburb of Hokowhitu, sold for more than half a million dollars above its 2018 council rating valuation after bidding at Bayleys’ auction on Friday kicked off at $1.25m.
Another stand-out at the auction was a four-bedroom 1930s arts and crafts house on a 1624sqm section in nearby Manapouri Crescent.
The house sold for $1.351m, more than $200,000 above CV and more than $500,000 more than what the property last changed hands for in 2016.
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Four of the 11 residential properties on the block at the Bayleys auction passed in, with most of the houses selling for under $1m. The lowest price of the day was $606,000, for a tidily renovated three-bedroom 1950s home on Rugby Street in Awapuni. That sale price was more than double the $247,000 the house sold for five years ago.
A stylishly renovated 1930s home on Manapouri Crescent, in Hokowhitu, Palmerston North sold five years ago for $835,000. Photo / Supplied
Stephen Shale, Bayleys group auctioneer for Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taranaki, said that there were 30 registered bidders at the auction.
“Eighteen people put their hands up. There were a number of properties that started with a high number, so the rest didn’t get a chance to put their hands up,” he said, adding that the market had been steady in the last three months.
OneRoof house price figures for October show that the average property value in Manawatū-Whanganui rose 32.7% in the last 12 months to $662,000. Although house price growth has eased in the last three months to 3.9%, the region is still feeling the heat from buyers attracted by relatively affordable prices.
Top price of the day was $1.419m for a house on Winston Avenue in Hokowhitu. Photo / Supplied
He said that in the towns he covers, apart from premium beachfront properties in Mount Maunganui, the average sale prices are all pretty similar. The average values in Palmerston North, the region's biggest city, rose 5% over the three months to the end of October to $778,000.
Rod Grieve, who heads up Bayleys in the region, said that the market was on the rise.
“October was a record-equalling month for us for auctions and September sales price growth was up on last year.”
Grieve said that despite talk of outside buyers, only one of the day’s sales was to an out-of-towner, although several other lots had under-bidders from Auckland.
A renovated 1950s three-bedroom home on Rugby Street in Awapuni sold for $606,000. Photo / Supplied
Auckland buyers snapped up a refurbished three-bedroom home on Tremaine Avenue in Westbrook, Palmerston North, for $730,000. Photo / Supplied
Both Shale and Grieve predicted November figures would be strong, but were reluctant to guess what December and early 2022 might bring.
“Our feedback from first-home buyers is that banks are taking longer to process [loan applications] and tightening of the lending criteria are presenting some headwinds,” Grieve said.
“But we’re not seeing those headwinds impact the actual prices and values.”
