Where it takes the longest to sell a house in NZ

Woodend Beach at Waimakariri north of Christchurch has just been revealed as the place in New Zealand where it takes the longest to sell a residence.

The area south of Waikuku set the year's national record for having homes which languish on the market for a daunting 169 days, compared with many Auckland suburbs where it takes around 20 to 30 days to quit the house.

"On average, that's how long it takes to sell a house in that area or suburb," said Nick Goodall of CoreLogic said of Woodend Beach. "It could be due to low demand, vendor expectations, the fact that it's a holiday area and there are not that many jobs."

Supply had increased in the area, too, he said. The area is renowned for its long stretch of beach and Goodall said it could be that vendors are just particularly patient in that peaceful place, undaunted by waiting around a third of a year.

Herne Bay is New Zealand's most expensive suburb, setting the highest median price record for 2018 of $2.6m. Cheapest is Cobden with a median $149,500. The biggest median value change this year was recorded in Bulls where values rose 26.9 per cent, offset by Normanby in South Taranaki where values fell the most at -7.6 per cent.

The top sale price this year was 15 Cremorne St, Herne Bay, at $27.5m.

In an outlook commentary, CoreLogic said that in February the Tax Working Group will be submitting its final report to the Government, with a recommendation of whether or not to impose a capital gains tax, and in what form.

In April, the intention is to ring-fence rental property losses for tax relief purposes. Landlords will still use losses to reduce tax across their current property portfolio or on future profits on the same property, just not against their employment income anymore.

"It'll be really interesting to see if this triggers some landlords to leave the sector, although on its own the ring-fencing seems unlikely to cause a mass exodus."

KiwiBuild had its fair share of teething problems "but they'll be hoping to really ramp up momentum in 2019, both in terms of construction volumes and buyer take-up of the houses actually built. With more than 4000 homes contracted with developers, the first KiwiBuild target of 1000 completions by June next year looks achievable," CoreLogic said.

"How all of that interacts with macro factors such as GDP growth slowing, net migration easing and mortgage interest rates potentially rising a bit will go a long way to determining the path for property volumes and values in 2019. We expect more of the same next year – low and stable volumes, with generally rising values," CoreLogic said.