Utuhina and Hillcrest biggest value rises

FILE

Houses in Utuhina have jumped the most in value this year, but figures show average values have risen across the entire city over the past year.

Quotable Value figures released this week showed the average value of a property in Utuhina rose by 12.1 per cent in the year to September 30, 2015, followed by Hillcrest and Koutu.

All Rotorua suburbs saw an increase in values, with Ngongotaha seeing the smallest rise, followed by Lynmore and Kawaha Point.

At the end of October the most expensive suburb was Lynmore with an average value of $415,250 while the cheapest suburb was Fordlands with an average value of $112,350.

Ross Stanway, chief executive of Realty Services, which operates Bayleys and Eves, said suburbs such as Utuhina and Hillcrest tended to be where buyers saw good opportunity to add value.

Mr Stanway said they were historically suburbs which had been in the lower price range and people had seen affordability in them.

"There's the opportunity to add value.

"People can purchase without paying as much," Mr Stanway said.

He said once that started to happen with new owners getting stuck in to renovations it tended to trigger other nearby property owners to do the same.

The suburbs were handy to the city and transport and were appealing to the likes of first home buyers and investors, he said.

Ian McDowell, from The Professionals McDowell Real Estate, said Utuhina had always been popular but Hillcrest had seen a rise in value. "Values have certainly jumped up in that area."

He said while the concrete block placement, red brick houses might have been seen as a bit old-fashioned in the past, people were now seeing the value of the close-to-town location and many of the homes had been modernised.

He said the suburbs that had seen some of the biggest jumps in value were the ones that had lagged behind a bit.

Mr McDowell said Ngongotaha's 1.5 per cent jump, the lowest of all suburbs, was probably because it had seen a quite a jump two to three years ago.

"Similarly Lynmore has always been popular. People have always paid good money to be there."

Property valuer Mike James from Telfer Young said the suburbs like Utuhina and Hillcrest tended to have fewer sales, which meant the jumps were more marked.

He said suburbs such as Lynmore and Ngongotaha hadn't been as negatively impacted by the downturn as some of the other suburbs.

"They didn't dip as much as some others over the past five or six years, consequently they haven't come up a dramatic amount."

Mr James said well presented properties in good locations were receiving good buyer and good interest.