How good is your broadband? Why this map could push up house prices

The map shows that roughly half of Auckland suburbs already had access to fibre. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A new website which reveals the properties with the best access to ultra-fast broadband is likely to be a crucial tool in the real estate market, Communications Minister Amy Adams says.

The minister yesterday launched an online "broadband map" which was capable of showing, house by house, which areas had fibre, broadband, and wireless coverage and what maximum speeds residents could expect.

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Ms Adams said as the number of new internet retailers expands, the website would provide an independent, reliable source for people to consider their options.

"Part of this is making sure there is some truth in advertising about the offerings and comparability about the speeds you are being promised and what that means."

The minister also believed it was likely to have a strong influence on the residential property market.

"Increasingly when people are buying property one of the first questions they want to know is 'what sort of broadband do I get?'

"I often tell the story of a 70-year-old constituent in my area who was selling his house ... and he said to his real estate agent, 'Don't show me anything that doesn't have fibre'. Really, it has become a very critical part of the real estate market incredibly quickly."

Ray White chief executive Carey Smith said the new interactive map was a useful service that would become more important.

He said house-hunters in rural areas were more often concerned about broadband access than those in the city.

"Fibre has not made a quantifiable different to house prices ... so I don't know if it is something that would stop a person from buying a property in the CBD.

"But I still think if people are buying in rural areas it's an important decision like all utility services."

The map showed that roughly half of Auckland suburbs already had access to fibre, and ultra-fast broadband would be installed in the remaining areas between the middle of next year and mid-2019. Coverage was similar in other cities, and patchier in rural areas.

Fibre connections provided speeds up to 100Mbps - five times faster than most copper networks. Online entertainment providers such as Netflix recommended around 5Mbps for high-definition video.

Unlike copper, fibre did not degrade over distance so internet speed was consistent no matter how far a consumer was from the source.

The interactive map was developed by the New Zealand Registry Service, a subsidiary of Internet NZ.

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