To secure the house they want in Auckland, some first home buyers are having to stretch way past their comfort zone and may even be looking towards the million dollar mark to get an average-sized house.
In Whanganui, still one of the country’s most affordable urban centres, people can buy a stately mansion or an architecturally-designed four-bedroom home with sea views by the golf course for less than $1m.
Out-of-towners bought two of the top three sales which settled in the last three months in Whanganui and while that’s great for the city, the influx of people from elsewhere is putting pressure on local first home buyers and renters because those homes are being snapped up by others, says Bruce McGhie, an agent with the Property Brokers team which sold all three of the top sales.
When homes in the Whanganui first home buyer price range come up, there is huge competition, he says.
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“We had one a couple of weeks ago with 26 offers on it.”
The two-bedroom brick state house in Grey Street sold for just over $290,000.
People from all over the country are inquiring about property in Whanganui, McGhie says, because “everywhere else the prices are just that far above where we are now.”
39 College Street, College Estate, Whanganui, sold for $905,000.
The third top sale in Whanganui to settle in the last three months was 131 Roberts Avenue, in Aramoho. It went for $765,000.
Whanganui’s housing market saw quarterly growth of 3.4 per cent and annual growth of 17.3 per cent, with a $305,000 median value for all properties in the city, according to OneRoof’s latest Property Report.
First home buyers and investors represented just under a quarter of new mortgage registrations and while buying by investors is on the up, buying activity of first home buyers has decreased because house prices in some suburbs have risen to levels they can’t afford.
Newcomers to the town, however, are finding top-end homes are a bargain, at least compared to prices in other big centres.
The top sale to settle in the last three months in Whanganui, according to figures supplied to OneRoof by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, was in up and coming Castlecliff near the sea.
Auckland's biggest sales were in another universe: top was 21 Red Bluff Rise, Campbells Bay, which sold for $9.25 million.
Number 34 Longbeach Drive was bought by Wellingtonians for $950,000 - compare that to the top sale in Auckland for the same time period of a cliff top property in Campbells Bay on the North Shore which went for $9.25m, under its $11.5m CV.
McGhie said the Wellingtonians, professionals in their late 40s, were relocating back to Whanganui and had wanted a property with a number of outdoor aspects.
“This place was right next to the golf course which is very nice. In fact, you’re right on a fairway there pretty much so you can just jump the fence and have a game.
“On the other side is the sea view which is very pleasant from their architecturally-designed home.”
The second highest sale was in the premier suburb of College Estate, “Whanganui’s Remuera”.
Out-of-towners, possibly from Tauranga, paid $905,000 for 39 College Street, a four-bedroom stately home with an en suite the size of a bedroom.
“It’s right by Whanganui Collegiate school which is where Prince Edward went when he was over here. It would have been one of the houses that was built when the school was built. Some of the staff would have lived in it probably.
“It’s a sort of Remuera property when you think about it. It could easily be plonked there and not be out of place.”
McGhie says on the mind of most people moving to Whanganui is getting more for their money.
The penthouse in one of Auckland's tallest apartment blocks, The Sentinel, in Takapuna, fetched $9 million.
“Somebody from a bigger centre’s going to come to town and buy something and put some money in the bank probably, too.”
The third property in the top three sales was 131 Roberts Avenue, Aramoho, a sought-after lifestyle suburb about ten minutes out of the city centre, which was bought by Whanganui locals for $765,000.
The three-bedroom, two bathroom home sits on about 3000sq m of land - “it’s a beautifully designed home with a bit of land. The house itself is very modern.
“It’s got beautiful views across the city because it’s on a sort of raised plateau with some other modern houses around it as well.”
The buyers wanted a bit more land and a change of lifestyle from suburbia, McGhie says.
This home at 450a Remuera Road in Auckland's Remuera was sold for $6.75 million.
In Auckland, the top-priced sale to settle in the last three months was 21 Red Bluff Rise in Campbells Bay, a five bedroom, five bathroom property marketed by agent Michael Boulgaris as “an oasis of privacy, exotic plants, rolling flat land, magnificent ocean views and private beach access” - and that access is by cable car.
The second most expensive sale was the top floor penthouse at The Sentinel, a landmark luxury residential tower in Takapuna, which sold for $9m, and the third sale was 450A Remuera Road, an apartment in Remuera with views to Rangitoto which sold for $6.75m.
