$1m price tag for richest streets

H AVELOCK North's Black Barn Rd tops a list of the most desirable streets in Hawke's Bay. Homes on Black Barn Rd have a median capital value of more than $1 million.
Figures released to Hawke's Bay Today from QV property valuers featured Havelock's Burbury Ridge, Williams Rd in Kairakau and Whakarire Ave in Westshore in a list of the top 10 richest streets in the region.
Streets in Ahuriri, Bluff Hill and Aramoana also ranked highly.
QV research director Jonno Ingerson said the top 10 in any area often includes coastal properties, or those with a sea view.
"So in the case of Napier, that accounts for the majority of the top 10 list which are either waterfront at Westshore and Ahuriri, or are up on the hill."
Central Hawke's Bay's richest streets are also in coastal locations, with a high proportion of holiday homes.
Not all coastal property is highly valued, Mr Ingerson said. "It tends to be more the bach locations that are higher value, where people with plenty of disposable income have built themselves holiday homes. This is in contrast to owner-occupier locations that happen to be coastal, which at times are not highly valuable."
Mr Ingerson said values on Havelock's richest streets were driven by land prices, as well as many of the houses being new and very large.
Registered valuer Andrew White of My Valuer said the value of properties in the best streets in the Bay are driven by location, views, aspect, land size, shape and contour, zoning, schools and general location trends.
Paul Harvey, a registered valuer at Williams Harvey, said high-value properties often also feature large, mature plantings and "a feel of ambience, that X-factor". He said with higher priced land, a substantial home is generally built, which creates a premium property.
Real Estate Institute spokesman for Hawke's Bay, Murray Keane, said there had not been much on the market in the high-end bracket in the past six months, and most that had been listed sold quickly.
However, a number of those properties sold below their rateable values, he said.
Mr White said there was demand for high-end properties in the desirable parts of Napier and Hastings, but buyers were being cautious.
"The property must meet their high expectations that they are getting value for money."
The QV figures calculated each street's median capital value, determined for each house for rating purposes. The results reflect the market value of each house in the street at the time the value was set.
* Figures for streets in Napier are from September 2008, in Hastings district from September 2007 and for Central Hawke's Bay from September 2009. A street had to have at least 10 houses on it to be included in the analysis.