Christchurch: Before and After

Before and After

It’s a tale of two cities – pre-quake Christchurch and post-quake Christchurch. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the housing market. What was once a normal property market with smooth transitions in price as you travel further from the centre has become a market defined by levels of damage and technical categories.

With the central city and eastern suburbs worst-hit by the quakes, the less-damaged area to the north-west of the CBD has seen a boom in prices.  From Mairehau to Hornby, prices have risen substantially, and are rising still.  In fact, notes Tony Brazier, principal of Braziers, they are boosting values to the extent that they are counterbalancing some negative growth in the eastern and hillside/peninsular areas.

“Post-earthquake the north-west has boomed,” Lewis Donaldson, president of the Canterbury Property Investors’ Association and real estate agent with Harcourts Papanui, says.  “The number of buyers has decreased, but the prices are still going north.”

This continued success has even surprised those in the industry. Peter Warren, franchise owner for Mike Pero in Christchurch, said August and September were especially quiet due to pre-election nerves of many investors and buyers. “But since the election, the market has sprung back to action. At this stage the market continues to gain although property sales were slower than previous months and have strengthened in October."
I’d say the huge spikes are out, and those wild statistics – the ones where everyone in the office says, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe someone paid that’.  But in general, the market has stablised at a healthy increase.”