Rise in apartments boosts choice

Big influx of apartments on to Auckland market contributed to a drop in the region’s average asking price in June, the latest Realestate.co.nz data suggests.

Saturday, July 1st 2017, 12:00AM

by Miriam Bell

The property listing website saw 800 Auckland apartments listed for sale in June which was almost double the amount listed in May (453).

Year on year, the number of apartments for sale in Auckland rose 52.8% (one bedroom), 45.5% (two bedrooms) and 18.3% (three bedrooms or more).

But Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Taylor said that in the 10 years they have been collecting data they have never seen so many apartments come onto the market in one month.

“With apartments typically being more affordable than houses, this has pulled down Auckland’s total average asking price for the month.”

The data shows that Auckland’s average asking price was down by 4.7% to $917,250 in June, as compared to $962,196 in May.

In contrast, the average asking price for an Auckland apartment in June was $679,170.

A more affordable price point, along with changes in attitudes towards apartments, mean that apartments offer Auckland buyers a viable housing alternative.

Taylor said that apartments are no longer confined to the CBD, rather they are an integrated part of developments in areas across the wider Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere and Manukau cities.

“It has shifted the mindset that buying an apartment meant buying into the Auckland CBD lifestyle, which may have only appealed to a certain demographic.

“Now, apartments are meeting a wider set of lifestyle stages and needs.

“There is significant choice and buyers can take into consideration developments which meet their needs, for example schools, parks, shopping and local facilities.

“It provides buyers with a more cost-effective way to approach the property market.”

Realestate.co.nz’s data showed Auckland’s market had an overall lift in new listings in June (2.2%) compared to the same time last year.

But Taylor said this was underpinned by the 800 new apartments coming onto the region’s market.

Around the rest of the country, average asking prices fell in five regions besides Auckland in June.

Those regions were Northland (down 3.0% to $528,170), Manawatu-Wanganui (down 6.9% to $304,734), Wellington (down 1.8% to $562,040), Marlborough (down 4.1% to $460,637) and Canterbury (down 5.4% to $469,994).

Meanwhile, new listings dropped in Wellington, Canterbury, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty in June.

Wellington’s inventory of listings remains the lowest of main centres – which is an indication of just how tight the Capital’s market currently is.

Taylor said that while June is traditionally a quiet month, Wellington’s inventory of listings in June stood at just six weeks.

“Inventory of listings means that, theoretically, if no new properties were to come onto the market from today, Wellington’s property stock would ‘sell out’ in six weeks.”

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