Herne Bay properties gained in value by $432,511 in a year with its median sales price now $2.56m. Photo / Ted Baghurst
Herne Bay properties gained in value by $432,511 in a year with its median sales price now $2.56m. Photo / Ted Baghurst
A typical Auckland worker would need to spend almost seven years toiling in a full-time job to earn as much as homes in New Zealand's most expensive suburb made last year.
Homes values in the prestigious neighbourhood of Herne Bay hit a median $2.56 million in June - or $432,511higher than their June 2019 value, according to property analysts Valocity.
Based on that, a Herne Bay home would need just 54 days to jump $64,168 in value - the same amount a typical full-time Auckland worker earned in a year.
Or put another way, Herne Bay values effectively jumped $1184 every day.
That was equivalent to earning a typical New Zealander's weekly full-time $1189 salary every day for a year.
And Herne Bay home sellers weren't the only ones merrily counting their pennies.
Neighbouring St Marys Bay's home values hit $2.32m in June, jumping $321,669 - or five times the annual Aucklander's salary.
The year-on-year price jumps showed how fears of an economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic had barely dented housing market confidence, Valocity's James Wilson said.
"We're beginning to see that confidence translate into real dollar value growth in some suburbs," he said.
Overall - among Auckland suburbs that had at least 20 homes sell between June 2019 and June 2020 - 164 suburbs rose in value, five didn't change and seven dropped in value.
Herne Bay median house prices jumped more than $1100 every week in the past year - the same price as the weekly full time salary of a typical Kiwi. Photo / File
Record low-interest rates and a "fear of missing out" among buyers, who earlier watched house prices increase straight after March and April's lockdown, seemed to be propelling prices to new heights.
And it was not just first-home buyers and investors who were buying, Wilson said.
So-called movers - people who already owned a family home but wanted to trade it in for a smaller or bigger place - were also starting to buy again.
"They're typically more cautious and were earlier waiting to see what was going to happen with the market," Wilson said.
Owen Vaughan, editor of property website OneRoof said Kiwis had spent billions of dollars on property in the last few months.
"Mortgage figures for last month suggest Kiwis are not afraid to stretch themselves and take advantage of the low-interest rates," he said.
This had led sale prices to eclipse the expectations of nearly everyone, home valuers and real estate agents included, he said.
Yet comparison between median house prices and wages came with caveats.
The latest Stats NZ salary figures date back to June, meaning the Herald also used median house prices from June to compare them to.
However, newer September house price data was due out next week.
Median sales prices can also be strongly influenced by the type of homes selling at a given time, Valocity's Wilson cautioned.
So, for instance, if more four-bedroom homes sold in a particular suburb one month while more apartments sold in the same suburb the next month, you would expect the suburb's median value to drop in the second month.
That didn't mean the suburb's four-bedroom homes were suddenly worth less, however.
Across the Auckland region as a whole, meanwhile, the median price hit $930,000 in June, up $50,000 compared to a year earlier.
That was about $14,000 less the typical full time salary of a city worker.
Among the regions, Gisborne homes were the standout over the past year.
The city's median house price jumped $90,000 to $455,000. That was $31,032 more than the city's typical full time salary of $58,968.
Wellington homes also jumped $70,000 to $715,000.
That pipped the $68,796 median salary of the typical capital worker - the highest wages in the country.
Hawke's Bay homes that jumped $65,000 to $550,000 and Manawatu-Whanganui homes jumping $60,000 to $425,000 also earned more than each regions' respective $58,968 and $57,824 salaries.
Marlborough homes were the poorest performers over the past year. They rose $25,000 to $475,000 or about $31,000 less than they typical $56,732 full time salary in the region.
