New Zealand Hotspots
While property in the larger cities, such as Auckland and Wellington, is always going to be in demand thanks to the job opportunities and easy access, over the last year, it was the smaller, provincial cities that showed the strongest growth.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), the best performers were Wanganui, Invercargill, Rotorua and Palmerston North. Waganui saw prices rise from NZ$148,250 (£56,335) in December 2005 to NZ$181,000 (£68,780) in December 2006, which is an increase of 22.1 per cent. Of the larger cities, Wellington saw the highest rate of growth, with the average property prices increasing from NZ$316,000 (£120,080) to NZ$365,000 (£138,700).Future Trends
Looking ahead to 2007 and beyond, Murray Cleland, National President of REINZ, predicts further strong growth, meaning that this is the ideal time to purchase your dream home in New Zealand, secure in the knowledge that is will also be a safe investment. Mr Cleland states, “The demand for houses is strong, which is witnessed by the massive amount of new home construction – an overdue reaction to a period of relatively low new home activity in recent years. We have strengthening net migration, which is another factor, and, of course, we have a longstanding drift of internal migration as people gravitate north, which will ensure that Auckland property prices will remain strong.”
There are concerns that the rising costs are pricing local first-home buyers out of the market. The Demographia Housing Affordability Survey predicts that up to 60 per cent of the population – 2.6 million people – could be lifetime tenants if increases continue at their current rate, and it’s estimated that around 10,000 a year are being forced out of the housing market. For the canny investor, this means there’s huge potential in buy-to-let properties.