New Zealand’s $1,300-a-week house price has soared by more than 10 per cent in the past year, as house prices have risen at a faster pace than inflation.
Key points: The average Auckland house is now worth $1.1m, up from $1 million a year ago and the most expensive in New Zealand for a single person in 2017-18.
The price increase is mainly driven by a surge in overseas buyers and an increase in the number of properties sold.
New Zealand has the highest property market in the world and the country’s house prices are expected to continue rising.
“The boom has been incredible, the prices have gone crazy.
That’s a huge shock, it’s not a surprise,” said Tom Taylor, a housing researcher with The Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
“It’s just a matter of when.”
Auckland house prices rose 11 per cent between March and July 2017, the biggest increase in Auckland’s history.
It is the fastest increase since 2009, and the biggest gain for any market since the housing boom in the late 1990s.
Auckland house prices in 2019-20 will be the highest in the country.
The biggest jump was in the north, where house prices jumped 14 per cent to $1m a year.
The fastest increase in prices was in Wellington, where prices increased 11 per 100,000 residents, or 2.8 per cent.
New Zealand’s median house price rose by just $300 last year, while Auckland’s was up by $900.
In the last decade, Auckland house price growth has been driven by an increase of about $600 per home per year.
However, prices have been falling since the start of the year, with the average price for Auckland homes rising just 1.6 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 2.4 per cent decline in Auckland in 2017.
“If you look at Auckland’s housing affordability problem, we’re not getting much of an upgrade at the moment,” Mr Taylor said.
Mr Taylor said the Government’s housing plan, announced in January, had been a “massive success”.
“It’s been a real positive step forward in terms of our housing affordability,” he said.
“I’m sure we’re going to see the numbers go up over the next few years.” Newshub.