Is now a good time to invest in Auckland? Is it a good time to trade up? Are there other parts of New Zealand showing some early spring action? A quick peek into the REINZ median house price stats shows us some interesting numbers.
Firstly, yes its still a buyers market when you look at things from a high level. But certain parts of Auckland, such as Auckland City and North Shore City reveals an increase in the median compared to last year. Auckland City up 13.4% when comparing July 2023 to 2024 and North Shore city a more modest 1.2%.
Are townhouses skewing the data?
According to data from Stats NZ, we are building way more multi-unit homes than ever before. In fact more than the Kiwi loved stand-alone houses. It does feel like in Auckland if you want something with a yard, it certainly does not feel like you are getting a bargain. I think there is now a two track market where buying apartments and townhouses can be done in a more relaxed fashion relative to houses with land. Interestingly my pick is that at some point there will be an uptick(might be happening already)in the prices of houses with land but data will not show it from many of our traditional data sets.
More houses changing hands
It seems the numbers of houses selling has gone up, 14.5% nationwide and 5.5% more in Auckland when looking at July. Auckland actually shows 21.5% more houses changing hands compared to the previous month. This is dramatic, it seems the houses are changing hands at a lower price or it could be that tax changes has meant the lower end(investment properties) having an effect.
Should you trade up in this market? Well if you are selling and buying in the same market it shouldn’t matter. When you try and play the game – selling at a future date to catch a rising price. You have to be clear that you are entering a world of speculation, which can bite back.
Investing in this market could be smart as I suspect its the rental areas with more stock coming on as investors that have held out, relinquish assets after changes to brightline test.
